Pre-alpha footage of the long-awaited Skate 3 follow-up leaked online Wednesday night, and publisher EA has worked double time to remove all traces of it in the ensuing hours.
The footage first made its way to the internet via the video-hosting site Odysee, and was scrubbed a few hours later. That was long enough for the clip to spread across the internet, with the help of GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb and industry leaker Tom Henderson. Both tweeted out the footage in the early evening Wednesday. Grubb uploaded the video to Twitter, where it remains viewable as of writing.
The clip, just over 30 seconds long, shows a largely texture-less world through which a player skates. The player performs a heelflip into a BS noseslide, then continuing with another short series of tricks. An input tracker in the bottom of the screen reveals the game is sticking with the Skate series' typical trick input method, with different motions on the right analog stick producing different tricks.
The clip then cuts to the player running around off their board, climbing stairs and performing front flips both on and off their board.
"This is in line with what I've heard about where the game is at from multiple people," Grubb wrote on Twitter. "They're trying to get the feel right, which is probably the most important aspect of a Skate game."
Henderson also shared that the map shown is currently called "Fun Town," but it's likely many of the elements in the footage will change before release.
EA announced production had begun on the next Skate game in June 2020, and new studio Full Circle was revealed as the developer in January 2021. An official title and release timing remain unknown, but EA has confirmed this will be the first Skate game to be released for PC.
