Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 seemed like a great idea after the success of the mod from the first two games, but it was recently revealed that one of the games in play by Activision Blizzard has been cancelled. With Microsoft, and therefore Xbox, in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard, one of the first things they must do is revive this converter.
Here’s why.
After a grueling decade or more for fans of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater that included shocking releases like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 and Tony Hawk: Ride, Activision has finally given fans greatness with the cross-platform 2020 version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 from veteran series developer Vicarious Visions .
While it was called a remaster, this game was more like a remake, with a new engine, which of course brought with it improved visuals and physics. The classic versions are still fun to play, but are basically becoming obsolete with how well they are recreated in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. That’s why fans have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
For a while, this was assumed to be the next step. However, that all changed when it was announced that Vicarious Visions would no longer be a base after Blizzard absorbed it in 2021 to serve as a prop for Diablo properties. This was incredibly disappointing news for gamers who loved not only Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, but the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy they developed a few years ago as well.
There was no official confirmation about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 until recently when Tony Hawk was speaking on Twitch stream by AndyTHPS, where he stated that the game was at some point in the work but was delayed as a result of the developer’s solution. That doesn’t have to be the case for this editor, as the sale of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft could potentially change things.
At this point, we have no idea how far the development process of this adapter has come. We’ve seen a lot of games put on hold when they were nearly complete in the past, but this one’s likely earlier in the process.
While we don’t know to what degree Microsoft and Xbox will be involved in everyday decisions once they own Activision Blizzard, there’s no doubt they want their affiliates to bring their own vision of gaming to everyone. What better way to show this than by bringing back a much needed game like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4?
THPS 3 and 4 were both great games that would be great to see them come to life on modern hardware. They brought a lot of new ideas to the series, such as “Back” in THPS 3, which was already added to the mod from the first two games to make it feel more complete. However, the third entry continued to improve on the first and second and offered a barrage of fun challenges for players to complete.
Pro Skater 4 from Tony Hawk is the game-changer of the bunch, as it introduced an open-ended career mode that was more like Free Skate mode. That’s what future entries have continued to build on, but it’s already well implemented in its first iteration here.
These two games didn’t feel like more than the same, but they did elevate the series and pretty much deserve new life on modern hardware.
Ultimately, the decision on whether to deliver these renewals will rest with Activision Blizzard and Microsoft after the acquisition is complete. This is probably something that will never be discussed, but Microsoft is really going to lose out on what seems to be a certainty here if they don’t at least explore bringing them back. Getting this as an Xbox console exclusive would be huge. Until then, the game industry is missing out without Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
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