Pro skater says new Tony Hawk and Skate games are on the way

Skateboarding fans have had to contend with a drought of any decent video games to play based on their favorite sport. The most recent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game wasn't great, and EA hasn't released a new Skate title in almost a decade. But it looks there's reason to be at least tentatively optimistic. In a recent interview with the Nine Club podcast, professional skateboarder Jason Dill said a new Tony Hawk game is coming out in 2020.

At the moment, it's probably best not to get too excited about the series coming back. While THPS 5 was a particularly bad game, Tony Hawk-branded games have been inconsistent since 2007. You have to go back to the franchise's PlayStation 2-era games to play the series at its best.

In the same interview, Dill also said EA is working on a mobile port of Skate 3. "So this woman [from Skate series publisher EA] emailed me and said 'Hey Jason we want to do a mobile version of Skate 3,'" he told the show. "I wrote back and said, 'What else?'. She wrote back and said, 'No, that's it.'"

Dill decided not to contribute to the mobile port, for reasons that will likely resonate with some fans. "So I wrote back and said, 'Look, no big deal, [but] no one wants your stupid mobile version of Skate 3. Make Skate f*****g 4 already." Afterward, Dill says he told EA, "good luck on Need for Speed 29." Ouch.

Again, it’s probably best not to get too excited about a mobile port of Skate 3. So much of what made the Skate games compelling were their precise analog controls, an aspect of the series that likely won’t translate to touchscreen devices. At the same time, maybe a successful re-release leads to future Skate games down the road. In any case, we’ll likely learn more about both titles courtesy of the upcoming Summer Game Fest.