Skate's divisive 'new feature' is already splitting gamers - and this is why

A Redditor who says they are a 'software engineer' has explained why an upcoming game being published by Electronic Arts (EA) may have had a divisive feature added so early in its development.

EA will publish a game developed by Full Circle which is a free-to-play Skate title that's currently in pre-alpha, in other words software that is not in a complete state.

Some players are currently able to test it out and give feedback so Full Circle can continue to refine the game based on what its community has said.

With it being a free-to-play game, microtransactions are inevitably going to be a part of it so that money can be made. Insider Gaming reports this has already been added into the game, which has raised eyebrows from some online as it's still in pre-alpha.

Microtransactions have been added into Skate even though the game is still in pre-alpha, which has raised eyebrows among some gamers / Screenshot from Full Circle, EA

That's because the in-game currency, called San Van Bucks, allows players to buy various cosmetic items but as the game is still in playtesting, Full Circle has warned account progress may be reset at times and fully reset at launch, although any purchases made will be converted back to San Van Bucks and be made available again at the start of early access.

To make sure this happens, the same EA account needs to be used for both playtesting and early access.

In a message to players, Full Circle explained it has been added to ensure players have a "positive experience when purchasing items from the Skate store".

"To ensure we achieve these goals at early access, we have enabled the option to purchase and use virtual currency (San Van Bucks) in our ongoing closed alpha playtest," the message said. "Your feedback will be greatly appreciated in providing a great experience at Early Access launch."

And a Redditor who says they are a 'software engineer' has broken down why this has been implemented now.

The top comment on a Reddit post in the Games Subreddit is from boreal_valley_dancer who said: "I mean we knew they were going to do this since day one but it's just an odd thing to do during an alpha and then say they are doing it in corpospeak like 'to provide the best player experience'. What does that even mean? How does being able to buy cosmetics that will get reset improve the player experience?"

And tapo replied to that and said: "I'm not a game developer but I am a software engineer. The closer your test environment is to production the better. They want to test this because, to EA, monetisation is the most important part. Ensure this works before the game goes live and it's at the peak of its hype cycle."

While microtransactions in games are always divisive, the majority commenting on the same Reddit post don't seem to mind them too much in this case - as long as they stay for cosmetic purposes.

Joshrofl said: "This was clearly going to be the route the second they said it was free-to-play, it's going to have microtransactions and a battle pass for sure. My hope is that it at least has a story and isn't just basically GTA Online Skate."

lifeonbroadway said: "Honestly if the game's fun to play it should work. I don't really see how it could be bad unless they were selling tricks in the store or maps / areas. That would be lame but other than that it's expected and unconcerning. It's really all about how the game feels."

Kozak170 said: "Not gonna lie maybe it's just been so long since I've played Skate but it's one of the games I really don't care if they fund through selling outlandish cosmetics to people who love burning money. As long as there's still unlockables and the game sees long-term support I'm kind of neutral on this unless we see something egregious."

For more from indy100, check out our best 100 video games of all time and a look at everything we know so far about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 remake.

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