The enduring cool of skateboarding games

More than 25 years after the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater put skateboarding games on the map, developers are still finding new ways to explore skating in video games, especially in 2025. Skateboarding fans are about to have some promising new games to play, with Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake releasing […]

May 10, 2025 - 16:21

The enduring cool of skateboarding games

More than 25 years after the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater put skateboarding games on the map, developers are still finding new ways to explore skating in video games, especially in 2025. Skateboarding fans are about to have some promising new games to play, with Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake releasing in July and EA is set to launch its online-only, free-to-play Skate revival this year.

In 2022, my colleague Andrew Webster wrote that we're in a golden age for skateboarding games, and things haven't really slowed down. So what is it that makes skateboarding so good for video games, and allows so many different expressions of the sport from different studios?

"I think skateboarding is one of those things that's just always cool," THPS 3 + 4 game director Kurt Tillmanns tells The Verge. "It's an evergreen fantasy, in both real life and games. Being a skateboarder is a sign of what and who is cool." He says "there's a reason that we're all in awe of what these people can do." Part of what makes skateboarding cool is the music, fashion, and art, and video games let people experience that skateboarding culture, too, Tillmanns says.

Also, "it's safer," jokes Andrew …

Read the full story at The Verge.