Skate 4 Data Mine Finds Loot Boxes Despite Developers Saying Otherwise

Skate is one of the most popular sports franchises under EA and it has a huge player base. You can’t talk about extreme skating titles without talking about the EA IP. It is one of the quintessential skating games alongside the very popular Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

The last entry in the Skate franchise came out a long time ago back in 2010. So fans were happy when EA finally announced the new Skate game in 2020. We finally got info about the game this month after it had been in development for more than two years.

Skate 4, or just Skate, will be a free-to-play live service title from EA’s new Full Circle studio. Even though the game has microtransactions, they are not going to give the buyer any gameplay advantage. However, a new data miner has said that loot boxes might be present in the game.

A loot box mechanic is apparently present in the new Skate in the form of “Swag Bags”. u/PatFennis posted this information on r/Skate4, and it seems legit. If the way they say these loot boxes work is true, then the game definitely has microtransactions in the form of loot boxes.

“Swag Bags” in Skate 4 will allow players to purchase randomized clothing, which is a loot box mechanic. We don’t know whether we’ll use real money or in-game progress to buy these “Swag Bags”. But, they are a total farce, especially when developers said no loot boxes will be in the new Skate game.

The screenshot in the post mentions a “Taps” currency which will probably come in use to buy these loot boxes. Real money or in-game progress will be required to buy this currency so you can purchase the loot box mechanic. Even if it requires no real money, putting loot boxes after explicitly saying they won’t is a really bad look.

Players are obviously not happy with seeing these FIFA-like mechanics in the new game. In the boardroom developer video, which came out a few days ago, developer Isabella Mocquard said how they’ll follow Apex Legends‘ example and have no loot boxes. But, it seems like the game is going down the typical EA path if this is true.