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EA's upcoming Skate understands that the soundtrack is just as important as the gameplay, confirms over 100 songs
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EA’s upcoming Skate understands that the soundtrack is just as important as the gameplay, confirms over 100 songs

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When you think of skateboarding games, what is the first thing you think of? For me, it’s the music – whether it was being introduced to the impeccable drum work of Josh Freese in The Vandals’ Euro-Barge on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1, trying to get my voice as high as 3 Inches of Blood’s singer in Deadly Sinners in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, or learning how to play Jack White’s part in Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine after hearing it in Skate, music is an integral part of these games.

The recent THPS 1+2 and 3+4 remasters understand this, and bring a nice mix of classic and modern music to the re-releases that (I think) represents what skate culture should always be about: honouring legacy and trying new stuff. EA’s upcoming Skate reboot seems to have got this brief, too, as today the publisher has announced that the game will have “over 100 songs” featured on the in-game soundtrack.

Back to the grind. | Image credit: EA

Pleasantly, these will vary from the likes of upcoming acts like Denzel Curry and Turnstile – yes, I know they’re four albums in, but they’re also only just breaking through to the mainstream – and more classic acts like MF Doom and Earth, Wind & Fire.

“[Skate will have] over 100 songs, with hits from emerging artists and deep cuts to help players discover new music as they skate through San Vansterdam,” reads a press release. “Each session stays fresh and high energy, and like San Vansterdam itself, the soundtrack will evolve with every season.”

Music licensing is a real pain for game developers; we’ve previously seen entire titles delisted from digital storefronts due to music licensing issues. By keeping the in-game track list fresh and changing it with the seasons, the publisher can better control what goes in and out of the game, and simply remove a track from rotation if the license expires. I think that’s also a better example of skate culture, to be honest: in my misspend adolescence in skate parks, I learned so much new, interesting music from listening to what the other skaters were blasting out of their crappy, battery-powered speakers hooked up to their iPods (I was just a bit too old for the boombox era, sadly).

So far, Little Simz and Skeggs are also mentioned for the soundtrack, but not a lot of other bands are confirmed yet. So that’s six out of – assumedly – 100 artists we’ve locked in. There’s plenty of scope for some really cool stuff to get in here. Just do me a favour, EA, and don’t include Lupe Fiasco’s Kick, Push. It’s been done to death at this point. If you want mellow, go for something like Brave Baby’s Plastic Skateboard, instead: it’s far better for those late night sessions on the concrete with your pals.



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When you can play EA’s Skate in early access
Game Updates

When you can play EA’s Skate in early access

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Get your boards out chat because Electronic Arts has announced that Skate early access will arrive at the end of the summer for PlayStation, Windows PC, Xbox, and mobile users.

Early access will be a part of Playtest Update 0.27, which is set to roll out on July 2. Players who want access to early skate sessions around San Vansterdam should sign up as a Skate Insider by June 27 (and no later than June 27). Participating in the early access will give skaters access to exclusive rewards like dope skateboards, swag, and stickers for in-game use.

Elsewhere in the update, skaters will be treated to new and improved updates for Skate, including a revamped San Vansterdam, which adds more pedestrians, traffic, cars, graffiti, and additions that make the world feel more alive. Improvements have also been implemented to the game’s UI, giving it that Skate feel with more personality through sound effects, snappy animations, and more.

EA also announced that server player limits have been extended to 150 skaters, adding more missions and challenges and a new neighborhood known as the Market Mile. The new update also incorporates “big changes” to the character customization process that bring more freedom and individuality to the skater’s overall appearances with new hairstyles, emotes, gestures, “and even more to come down the line.”

Skate 4, now known simply as Skate (or as EA styles it, skate.), was first announced way back in 2020. The latest entry in EA’s skateboarding franchise had gone through numerous challenges over the years, with the developers even announcing that they were rebuilding the Flick-It system that has become synonymous with the skating sims and adding “flumping.”

Playtests for the game first began in 2022 and have been ongoing since then, with devs collecting data and feedback from skaters involved. All of that feedback has finally led us here. While Skate doesn’t have a concrete release date, players can look forward to possibly getting their hands on a version of the game in the early access period coming soon.



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EA's cancelled Black Panther game would have featured an evolved take on Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System
Game Reviews

EA’s cancelled Black Panther game would have featured an evolved take on Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis System

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Towards the end of last month, EA cancelled its single-player Black Panther game and closed the developer behind it, Cliffhanger Studios. At this time, an email seen by the media said this decision would enable the publisher to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities”.

Since then, a Bloomberg report has revealed a few more details from Cliffhanger Studios’ now-cancelled Marvel game, including that the project was looking to build upon ideas from Monolith’s Shadow of Mordor game, such as its Nemesis System. The Nemesis system is a clever in-game mechanic, which in Shadow of Mordor tracks a player’s actions to create enemies who remember past encounters.

Cliffhanger was going to expand on this mechanism, with playable heroes such as T’Challa, Killmonger and Shuri all competing to earn the title of Black Panther. According to the report, players would select one character to play as, with the others then becoming rivals they could build a relationship with.

Additionally, Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game would feature Marvel’s fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters, the Skrulls. In the game, the Skrulls would be attempting to invade Wakanda, with some of the alien creatures posing as allies. Meanwhile, other members of the Skrulls “might have remembered the player’s behaviour and acted accordingly, sort of like in Shadow of Mordor,” the report stated, calling it an “ambitious system”.

However, despite its vision, the Black Panther developer had a hard time showcasing the game’s procedural narrative experiments, with those close to the project stating that processes were slowed due to the team building both a new game and a new studio at the same time.

Reportedly, the game had begun gaining more momentum prior to its shock cancellation, with many of those laid off only being hired within the last year. However, according to sources, EA executives had been left frustrated by the fact the game had not yet left the pre-production phase, despite it being in the works for nearly four years.

Image credit: EA

While EA may have cancelled its Black Panther Project, the company still has an Iron Man game in the pipeline. In October 2022, EA signed a multi-game deal with Marvel.

Away from EA, Amy Hennig’s own Black Panther-starring game is also still in development. Known as Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, the upcoming release is slated for next year, and will focus on four central characters: a young Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America; Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather and the WWII-era Black Panther; Gabriel Jones, a US soldier and member of the Howling Commandos; and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris.



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EA's Black Panther Game Would Have Had An Evolved Nemesis System, Report Says
Game Updates

EA’s Black Panther Game Would Have Had An Evolved Nemesis System, Report Says

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EA confirmed this week that it had canceled its upcoming Black Panther game and closed its developer, Cliffhanger Games. A new report provides more context and background as to the situation surrounding the game’s cancellation and what the game was aiming to be.

Bloomberg reported that the Black Panther game recently passed a development milestone, and the project was gaining momentum. However, sources said EA executives were upset that the game was still in pre-production after almost four years of work. After a portfolio review from EA management, the company reportedly chose to axe games in development for an extended period of time without making sufficient progress, and this included Black Panther.

Also canceled in this process were multiple titles at Apex Legends and Titanfall studio Respawn, including a new Titanfall game, according to previous reporting.

EA’s Black Panther game was going to build on some of the ideas that Cliffhanger boss Kevin Stephens had worked on with the Shadow of Mordor series when he was at Warner Bros., including the Nemesis system, the report said. For the Black Panther game, T’Challa, Killmonger, and Shuri would be playable characters, vying to become the new Black Panther.

Players were going to fight against the Skrull shapeshifting aliens, who had come to Wakanda. Some of these characters in the game might be impostors, and would have remembered and learned from player behavior, similar to how orcs in Shadow of Mordor would remember players and act based on previous interactions.

Developers had a hard time showcasing what made the Black Panther game special in presentations with management, and processes were slowed due to the team building a game and a new studio at the same time, the report said.

Following the game’s cancellation, staffers who worked on the project spoke out to praise the work the team did on what they hoped would be an “amazing” game. While the Black Panther game is no longer moving ahead, EA is still building an Iron Man game and multiple Marvel projects as part of a multi-game deal with Marvel.

EA’s Black Panther game is dead, but Amy Hennig’s Marvel game, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, features Black Panther prominently. The game was delayed and is now coming in 2026.



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EA's Black Panther game reportedly cancelled and studio closed, resulting in more layoffs
Game Updates

EA’s Black Panther game reportedly cancelled and studio closed, resulting in more layoffs

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EA has reportedly cancelled its single-player Black Panther game and closed the studio behind it, resulting in an unspecified number of layoffs.


EA Entertainment president Laura Miele shared the news in an email to staff seen by IGN, insisting today’s Black Panther cancellation, the closure of Cliffhanger Games, and the resulting job losses – as well the recent cancellation of other projects, including an unannounced Titanfall game at Respawn – would help the publisher “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”


EA declined to comment on the number of employees impacted by its latest round of layoffs when approached by IGN (these will reportedly also affect members of the publisher’s mobile and central divisions), but the website says it understands fewer individuals will be affected compared to the 300 job cuts recently made across Respawn and several other teams.


“These decisions are hard,” Miele wrote. “They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”


EA announced its Black Panther title back in 2023, confirming it would be handled by its then-new Cliffhanger Games studio in collaboration with Marvel Games. Although few details were shared at the time, it was described as a third-person title set in an “expansive and reactive” version of Wakanda, and still “early in development”. Nothing has been seen of the project since then, but a job listing in 2024 indicated it would be an open-world game.


Black Panther’s cancellation follows EA CEO Andrew Wilson’s comments last year that the publisher would be moving away from “future licensed IP”. And while Miele insisted EA will continue to invest in developer Motive’s Iron Man project and Respawn’s third Star Wars: Jedi game, she suggested the focus will now be on a small number of its own franchises, specifically Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. That’s in addition to Bioware’s next Mass Effect.


Notably, EA also recently announced it was ending its licensing partnership with the World Rally Championship and “pausing development” on all future rally games – a move which resulted in an undisclosed number of additional layoffs at Codemasters.


A second Black Panther project – publisher Skydance Games’ Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, which is being penned by Uncharted writer Amy Hennig – was recently delayed into next year.



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