Skate is locking a map area behind a paywall after promising no map areas would be locked behind paywalls: 'We will need to make changes as we go sometimes'

Skate's free-to-play resurrection hasn't had a smooth ride in early access. While it attracted millions of players at launch, it slumped to an early "Mixed" rating on Steam, and the following months of trudging through microtransaction muck and technical troubles haven't done much to improve player sentiment.

This week, EA seems determined to test how much more room to fall its player reception still has, revealing plans for Skate's Season 3 content rollout that includes a new map area that requires payment for unrestricted access—something that, before launch, Skate's developers explicitly said they wouldn't pursue.

In a Season 3 preview blog post, EA revealed a reworked Isle of Grom: an upgraded version of Skate's tutorial zone "expanded with a ton of new spots to skate and explore," like "hillbombs, massive gaps, cool transitions, and some Skate 2 and 3-inspired spillway action."

Sounds nice! Until you scroll down a little bit further to see the details for who can access the Isle of Grom and when.

Initially, the Isle of Grom will only be available from March 10 to April 14 for players who've purchased the Skate Pass, which costs 1,000 San Van Bucks (which costs roughly $10). Then, the Isle of Grom will have an "open access" period from April 14 to May 5, in which "all players can skate Isle of Grom during a special multi-week event."

Finally, after May 5, the Isle of Grom will once again require Skate Pass Premium—but players will also have the option to rent access to the new area with in-game currency by paying 500 earnable Rip Chips (we have strayed perilously beyond the light of divinity) for a 24-hour Isle of Grom Water Taxi day pass.

Even if I think we can all understand the logic of asking players to pay for a new region in a free-to-play game, it becomes a lot less palatable when access to it is presented with a conditional, three-stage flowchart while the game is already submerged inches-deep in microtransaction slurry. But what makes Skate's rollout of a new map area locked behind a paywall feel particularly foul is the fact that, in a July 2022 video published before launch, Skate's developers said there would be "no map areas locked behind a paywall" as a "hard ground rule."

On X, the official Skate account has been attempting to implement damage control by responding to players who are understandably frustrated by the game doing the thing it specifically said it wouldn't.

"Launching in Early Access meant we were going to work on the game in public while players played," the Skate account replied with near-palpable exhaustion to a frustrated player. "We want to build this game to last, and it means we will need to make changes as we go sometimes. It also allows us to make improvements like updating our characters, lighting, adding tricks and other things we've changed since September. This change was made to ensure this game sticks around for the long haul."

Elsewhere, the Skate account said that "sometimes plans have to change. That's part of the deal when you're building in public. We're here, we're listening, and we're going to keep shaping Skate together."

Nothing reassures me about the future of skateboarding like pacifying corporate pseudo-acknowledgment. If you want to join in shaping Skate together, EA has published an updated development roadmap for Season 3 and beyond. You can get tattoos soon. So, you know. Pretty cool.