Tony Hawk himself has confirmed that the new version of his long-running series of pro skateboarding games will only be available on mobile devices.
Speaking to Bloomberg, the legendary skater stated that the next game to bear his name would not make it to consoles and instead will be the first in the series to be released exclusively on mobile devices.
“We’ve never gone exclusively in that direction yet so I’m excited because, with the amount of time people are spending on their phones and their tablets playing games, we’ve never had our own game in that space so I’m excited to provide one finally” Hawk enthused.
Older gamers are more likely to remember the glory days of the franchise – known for fun arcade and campaign missions, customisable levels and skate parks, and a fist pumping soundtrack – when it was a huge hit on Playstation and Nintendo 64. The game played its part in bringing pro-skateboarding into the mainstream, making celebrities of its in-game characters in the process, such as Bam Margera.
In recent years, however, the game has lost some of its momentum. In spite of solid sales numbers, the rebranded Underground series wasn’t as universally adored as previous incarnations. The release of the critically panned game, Tony Hawk: Ride – and its sequel Tony Hawk: Shred – caused the game’s developer, Activision, to put the series on ice for a few years.
Activision has released a number of mobile games recently including Call of Duty: Strike Team and three Skylanders games. A mobile version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was released for iOS by the developer in 2010. Unfortunately it was a far from perfect transition, with irritatingly difficult touch-screen controls.
Hopefully the new version will be more optimised for mobile devices.
Speaking to Kotaku, Activision stated: “There is a Tony Hawk mobile game in development. The gameplay is all about tricks, using swipe manoeuvres on the screen, and has the unmistakable look and feel of a Tony Hawk game.”