Why Skateboarding Games Died 

I think it also has something to do with the popularity of real life skateboarding. I'm not saying skateboarding is dead, not at all, but in the 00s it simply was more popular. Skateboarding has always been kind of associated with rock/punk music and in the 00s there was a lot more poppunk music hitting the charts. There was more emphasis on skating in popular media (MTV shows with people like Bam Margera etc, and Nickelodeon cartoons like Rocket Power, ya feel me?) The subcultures who generally enjoy skating, like emo, punk and obviously skaters, were in larger amounts back then, compared to now. Skateboarding today is simply less popular than it was back in the day. It will probably return someday. Like all trends, popularity always goes back and forth.

Skateboarding games are dead, but everyone still wants skate 4 and EA are a bunch of idiots for not making it. Hope session can live up to the crushing amount of hype to fill that void

Girl at restaurant: "Are you Tony Hawk?" Tony Hawk: "Yes." Her: "Why?" Tony Hawk had no idea how to answer.

I would say it's not just skateboarding games that have died, but the overall video game genre for extreme sports in general. As a kid I remember constantly playing titles like Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, 3Xtreme, SSX Tricky, Cool Boarders, and of course THPS. We've had some games over the past decade, but they've been few and far between, and also generally bad. I think this is due to the fact that extreme sports were a lot more mainstream back in the 90's. We had them constantly being promoted in video games, toys (like tech decks), movies, television, clothing, art, and even music. Kids and teens also spent more time outside rollerblading, biking, and skateboarding. All of this combined made these types of games very popular. But as the digital age and Internet has evolved, we've become much more exposed to the surrounding world, and therefore are constantly forming new interests. The world of media was certainly much simpler 20-25 years ago, and we didn't have nearly as much control over what we consumed. The 80's culture seems to be coming back again, so who knows, maybe the 90's will as well. Perhaps we'll see a resurgence of extreme sports games someday soon.

Pro Skater 5 was not an attempt to revitalize the franchise. It was a last minute cashgrab because they were about to lose the tony hawk license. Which is why you got the the broken half assed game.

Because they didn't make a skate 4.

I think the main thing you left out was the decline of skate/surf culture in the US. When we were kids everyone was wearing Vans, Billabong t-shirts, and telling people, "yeah, I used to skate, but I don't anymore..." when we never did in the first place (or maybe that was just me Lol). Funny thing is I have actually picked it up years later as an adult..

They're back! Skater XL, Session, Tony Hawk 1 + 2, and EA confirmed Skate 4.

One Year From Now: *Why Did Battle Royale Games Died?*

Maybe there is hope. And by hope i mean Skate 4 will have a battle royale mode and sell $50 loot crates

When neversoft owned tony hawk that shit was absolute fire! Tony hawk was legendary in my childhood!

The physics and gameplay didn't evolve. The latest Tony Hawk games looked like mods of THUG...

Skate 4 would be awesome. I hope someone realize that.

We STILL want Skate 4.

skateboarding games are dead because skateboarding itself is kind of dead. Kids these days are not into skateboarding anymore and children are still the core community of videogames. Skating was the good shit back in the 90s and 00s and the companies made games with it to sell games. but today videogames are are trendier than skating so the tables have turned

You forgot to mention half pipe mode in Skate or Die 1 & 2, which solely focused on trick/high score- not racing. Thrasher Skate and Destroy pre-dates Skate as a skateboard simulator.

Skateboarding Battle Royale

They should add skating as a function in GTA 6

Who's here after the recent trailer?

I miss skateboarding video games. My childhood consisted of Need for Speed , Tony hawk underground, and Grand theft auto. It's sad to see this genre die especially with franchises like skate. The genre doesn't have much relevance today like it did in the early to mid 2000s however there are still people who like skateboarding culture as I always liked skateboarding how ever I could never afford a board and I had nowhere to skate so that's why I loved skateboarding video games. And I still have some hope that EA will make a skate 4

they're not just hard, they're neversoft®

I liked American wasteland and the undergrounds

This video is more like "how the tony hawk series died." EA was only the publisher of skate, black box was the developers. What really kinda happened was skate brought something that changed the genre in a better direction that represented skateboarding better. Originally skate was supposed to be a xbox arcade game that a couple black box employees made on the side as black box had alot of people who skated working for them. (I have a friend that was one development team.) So as it progressed, the higher ups gave them the go ahead as they seen it as a game changer to the genre. Game got big, but people didn't like stuff like camera angle or the lack of tricks. It still hit the thps franchise out of no where though and that franchise died when they tried to "get realistic" with the controllers. So skate took all the spotlight for the genre, so they made skate 2. Then the recession hit up here in canada as everyone expected and black box knew they were kinda screwed. So they went all out and rushed out skate 3 for the fans. Then black box went under, ea bought the company but they were hit hard by the recession too, so they let go of all of black box employees. That's how the skate franchise died. Black box did hint skate 3 was their last, ever hear of the saying "jumping the shark? " Lucky for people who don't know though, there was glitch found in the creator and the hardcore community took to it by making new parks that its like a new dlc map. The skate community I find actually keeps growing too. The guys behind project sessions actually is actually big into skate 3 hardcore community and started their game off feed back on a forum website called skatefluckit. The feedback is kinda why that games a bit hard lol. thank xbox for making skate 3 backwards compatible. its funny though, one of ea CEO has made it clear that he hates skateboarding games and uses thps5 flop as example of why it died. He's the same guy that kills any rumors or hype of a skate 4. That's why the die hard skate fans lost hope on a sequel. EA also won't give up the controls to skate either as they use them for other sport games. As for the skateboaring genre, its far from dead, just the big companies think that and won't make the investment. Its still alive though, just in the form of mobile games lol. But those kinda suck over time. The guys behind project session is french canadian, so if it flops at first, they will be too stubborn to let it die. Lol

I have my own little tradition. Every summer, I dust off my old playstation 1 and start KILLIN IT in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. My childhood was awesome largely due to this game, thank you Tony =*)

It's a shame the boys at Neversoft didn't understand what people loved about the tony hawk games, and that just because Skate was more realistic and sim-like, doesn't mean that's the direction Tony Hawk should go in. The market already had a Skate. Really what killed Tony Hawk, was its identity crisis.

I still play skate 3 it's a top 5 game of all time imo

session will hopefully revitalize the skateboarding genre. ive always loved the skate games and underground 2 is where i spent so much time playing. great video! keep them up i just watched your ssx video and now this one! ill be subscribing now.

True, games coming out every year and feeling the same gameplay dose make you lose interest example call of duty....

That Goofy skateboarding game was actually lit

I mean, if Activision is involved, then of course the genre will be destroyed. I hope they don't start making toilet paper, because they'll kill the market and I need something to wipe with.

This was awesome! Thanks for the great work! Would love to see the same for surfing games. Keep up the great work!

You're story of growing up almost mirrors mine! Subscribing to you now just for that and gonna watch other vids.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 was lit af :(

Thrasher on PS1 was amazing, killer soundtrack too.

Nice editing man. You told an interesting story well.

I had Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on my N64. Man I loved that game. My brother and I would always be playing that on splitscreen. I wish more modern games had splitscreen.

Last week I bought myself a package of Activision condoms!!

Tony should’ve teamed up with Skate.

Was always hoping for another tony hawks underground and another American wasteland. Both were great games. I think the last tony hawks I played was pro skater 8 where you were stuck in the first area of houses and had to use the rc to jump over the gate to get out

The first level on THPS when ypu break the glass... ICONIC

Tony's hawk shred wasn't an idiotic decision. Look at the year of release. What were other popular titles then? Guitarhero and rock band. They used "exclusive" peripherals just like tony tawk. They gambled on the peripheral trend at the time, and trust me. It was a tread.

Tony hawk battle royale

You should do a retrospective of monster catching games in general. I know it's been done by others, but I really enjoyed this video and would like to see that by you.

Uncreative producers and executives telling their creative teams what to do is the reason why ALL products fail. Why did skateboarding games die? the pure ego of company owners who don't trust their own teams. sales people putting their noses where they dont belong and trying to change the product for sales, instead of making a good product that sells its self by hiring a creative team and letting them have fun

Pffff died? If they dropped a skate 4 right now it would sell good sherrly out of nostalgia.

American wasteland was epic

The opening is just hysterical! 😆

Solid video my dude. Couldn't have said any of this better myself.

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is a piece of me

Same for snowboarding games too. Those used to be quite fun.

Nice video, I liked it!

A friend on FB posted “why are there no skateboarding games anymore” today. Just had to link to your video. Done and done. Great information!

Just as i was getting bored a new robocast video

I’m gonna be completely honest, the Tony Hawk skateboard controller was a huge part of my childhood. I bought it on clearance and played the shit out of TH Ride.

id buy activision fruit snacks.

I feel like people skate alot less now. The market for this is much smaller. Less skating on tv, less games, less people outside. This generation is boring.

The issue is much deeper. The whole skate culture has entered a weird period. There has been a huge documentary about this. It all happened thanks to social media. People used to go to big tournaments to see sick new tricks, and to live and breathe the skate culture, but now, you can see them anywhere online. The "boom" effect is completely gone. There are millions of videos. Previously, in games, you were hyped to see those new sick tricks, but now you only care about stacking them... people are not interested anymore in such games, as well as other Xgames sports... snowboarding, BMXing...etc.

Anyone remember Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure?

when you mentioned the "skate" game ALOT of memories came back. I spent ALOT of nights/days on those games

When I was a kid I played Skate or Die on my Commodore 64. This video made me feel really old. Thanks.

Your story telling is extremly good

People, me included, still spam ea’s chat , fx at ea, with skate 4

This makes me wanna play skatebording games all over again

Great video mate! Also, what's the song at 4.50?

I remember playing Skate for the first time and being blown away with the physics and bone breaking crash mode (coming from a ps2). Hopefully Session comes away with exciting gameplay and actually lives up to this hype.

Project 8 grew on me. The one big map was disappointing, but the vast amount of challenges in the map was addicting. I just wanted to keep raising my rank.

i love the music u have playing in your video

Well done and ty!

Man Skate 4 with Frostbite 2 would be sick. Also the community on the foums for Skate 3 was one of the best ive been a part of. Loved making parks, graphics etc and making realistic montages. One can only dream there will come a Skate 4 because SESSION is not the answer in my case, the team is not nearly big enough to make it as solid as it should be...

Proskater...collecting those tapes around the warehouse...so much nostalgia!!! :-)

Ahahaha, your first 30 seconds was awesome. I never even played a skate game in my life.

can somebody please tell me where that first clip of that guy tripping on his own foot and falling is from?

THPS 2 was best revolutions in skate board games. bigger in europe than thps 4

I think you missed one main point. thps can't hold water to skate anymore, and skate wont ever get made again because EA is the publisher, and there is no clear/feasible way to make skate under their current scheme. All their sports games are centered around game modes that involve buying card packs to build ultimate teams. They can integrate micro-transactions into this making these games infinitely more profitable than any single purchase skate game with a few DLCs. It is not worth it for them to spend the time or effort, no matter the demand for a new skate game.

Well done!

i played all the tony hawk games but underground was probably my favorite i just loved the story of the kid trying to get sponsored, i also still play skate 3 every once in a while ive actually got all the skate games but once you've done everything a hundred times you need a new game. i hope session is good.

Like a lot of Skaters I‘m a bit afraid of the upcoming Olympics in 2020, because we don‘t know how it‘s going to change our weird industry, but I really hope that through this huge event more skateparks, more respect for the “sport”/ art and a lot of new skate games see the light of our world.

Early 2000s was best. Dc skate shoes, skateboards, Nu metal and awesome games

Where can I find the full video for that clip???

In the late 90's my brother worked for a brewery. He somehow was given a black topped full version (only a black top with silver lettering saying THPS) rather than a traditional imaged disc. Soon as i heard that opening from Police Truck , i bought a board and skated religiously until 2007.

Skating is just less popular now. It's hard for developers to capitalize on a subculture and sport that has so many low and high periods it's hard to grasp what the market actually wants especially if you're dealing with such a minority who may want different things from a skating game. Session will be a good game but it's already pushing for the niche of being for actual skaters as well as being a sim, something that's even few and far between an actual success in the mainstream which is what sports like skateboarding have to appeal to in order to keep making games. Like in other sports, popularity is dictated by how many stars you have and we're just lacking someone or group of people to transcend the sport and appeal to everyone like Tony Hawk, Bam Margera, and Rob Dyrdek did, only then will you see more developers and publishers jump at the chance to make more skating games

Thrasher: skate and destroy was a great game. Not a single mention of it.

God you made me feel old I played Tony Hawk when it first came out I was in my early teens

The one that i played for the most time was the TH American Wasteland (i think that's the name), so much fun, love that game

Activision presents: Tony Hawk Pro Scooter one. Snake as many skaters as you can!

No mention of Thrasher Presents: Skate and Destroy?

They should make a entire game based around the Create a park feature from the Tony Hawk series but with a more parts/objects, advanced features and customability

Sounds like we had a very similar childhood. I too was in florida then. Kids today have no idea what cool is. 😎

i remember playing thrasher, and loving the soundtrack and more realistic approach to skateboarding. skateboarding with my friends in the neighborhood and then skateboarding on the console in my room. good times.

Isn't skateboarding in general not as popular anymore?

Is there a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 equiv on the PS4 Pro? I really crave playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 but I don't know how I can, I got rid of my PS2 YEARS ago.

Forgot about T&C Surf Designs:Wood Water Rage (1988) and Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble (1990) both were side scrollers where tricks were encouraged over obstacles. Skate or Die 2 had a halfpipe mode which was strictly impressive tricks for points

Next video why RoboKast channel died

i miss the gamecube and dreamcast

What's the song in the outro? Btw great video

Tony hawk said it best on his interview in the nine club he said it was already a niche market and so with an already small slice to be split between another competitor such as EA skate, the already small slice wasn’t enough to make any company happy. It’s to bad though, I loved the classic thps games and skate was an amazing series. Myself like many others have always wanted a skate 4. I hope session can fill the void.

I think they might come back it'll be pretty cool

"Tony Hawk's face looks like a weird chicken embryo" 10:21

nice content man. subs

Man i miss these games a lot they were so much fun. Underground was the last one i played it was so much fun.