Tony Hawk reveals huge amount he gets in royalties for iconic PlayStation game

If there are two things pro-skateboarder Tony Hawk is known for it's skateboarding ... and making video games about skateboarding. (And maybe not getting recognized in public too.)

In 1999 Hawk, 53, released his first video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the PlayStation. The game was an instant hit and eventually spawned 20 sequels or spin-offs since the initial release

A pro athlete collaborating with a video game company to create a custom game does not seem like a novel idea nowadays. But back in the early 2000s, Hawk was one of the first to do so.

In a 2018 interview withThe Nine Club, a skateboarding podcast, the pro-skater revealed that he had no intention of making a major profit from his first game.

"I never thought that people who are really into games will go into skateboarding because skateboarding wasn't that popular," Hawk told the hosts. "It was bigger than I ever imagined, the fact that we got a sequel was a huge shock to me,"

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However, the biggest shock came when Hawk received his royalty check.

Hawk revealed that as his fourth game was being released in 2002, he learned that while his other three games were doing well, the first game remained the most profitable.

"My main contact at Activision asked to have lunch with me in LA when I was there one day, he's not the head guy but he was the guy definitely overseeing our games," Hawk said.

Hawk's contact revealed the original game was selling at incredible volumes.

"He was like 'so, things are way bigger than you ever thought' and he handed me a check for four million dollars," Hawk told The Nine Club.

The check amount was only Hawk's annual royalties from the game.

Since the release of the game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has earned nearly $1 billion in sales.

Hawk's games are considered a cult classic among sports video game lovers. Bleacher Reportand Complexboth consider the game to be in the top must-haves.

"The video game changed my life," the pro-skater told the podcast. "It allowed me to stop competing and do things I always dreamed of."

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