EA’s upcoming Skate game will be free-to-play. The company announced last week that the skateboarding reboot won’t release with a price tag. Instead, the game will offer live-service elements and be available to all players for free. It goes without saying that a free-to-play Skate game, especially considering the game is published by EA Games, will be monetized to death and already players have spotted in-game referneces to loot boxes called Swag Bags.
In the latest Skate playtest, the game references the word “Swag Bag” an awful lot. While the playtest is just an ongoing alpha build of the game, these tests usually represent a somewhat glimpse into the final game. According to the files, Skate will use a currency called “Taps”. This can be earned in the game by completing levels and simply playing the game. Players earn Taps the most in Fun City.
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Taps are then used to unlock Product Boxes. These boxes will then reward you with randomized loot. Given that Skate is a skateboarding game and not a shooter or RPG, this loot is most likely cosmetic items such a shirts, board designs, shoes and other outfit items.
The question we have now is what are these Swag Bags? EA Games claimed that Skate won’t have any purchasable loot boxes whatsoever. This is likely due to the ongoing move to ban games that contain loot boxes. While we know Product Boxes are technicaly loot boxes but are bought with money earned in Skate itself, these Swag Bags are boxes purchased with real money and not taps.
At the moment, no one knows what these Swag Bags are. Are these bags included in Product Boxes or will EA make them purchasable as seperate cosmetic items? Whatever they end up being, you’ll probably have to eithe grind a lot to get them or simply pull out that credit card. EA hasn’t announced how the publisher plans to monetize Skate yet.
Skate doesn’t have a release date at the moment but you can sign up for the current playtest. Find out more here.
Source: Reddit