Skate Faces Steep Player Decline Two Months After Launch

Skate’s early momentum has thinned at an unexpected pace, with Steam data showing a playercount drop of more than 90 percent since launch. The slide has become a central topic within the Skate community, where long-running skepticism toward the series’ live-service direction still shapes most conversations. The numbers offer a blunt snapshot of that friction and signal the challenge EA now faces in sustaining interest during the game’s live phase.

The SteamDB figures tell the story in plain terms. Skate debuted on September 21 with a peak of 134,901 concurrent players. This week, its highest count hovered around 12,000, and its 24-hour peak settled just under 10,000. One post on the Skate 4 subreddit highlighted an active count of 3,620 at one point, a fraction of the early surge that greeted the game’s release. The scale of the drop is difficult to ignore, even with the usual caveat that Steam reflects only part of the playerbase.

Skate arrived with the pitch of a long-tail platform built around shared spaces, seasonal updates, and progression tied to online routines. The model was contentious from the moment of its announcement. Fans had waited more than a decade for a new game and expected a traditional single-player sequel. Instead, they received a structure designed around repeat visits and community loops. Many entered Early Access with caution, though plenty admitted the core movement still carried the pull that defined the series.

The problem is that live-service design relies on a steady crowd, not a temporary celebratory spike. A single-player title can absorb a shrinking audience without consequence, but a game built on continual engagement depends on a stable base to sustain its events, funding, and cadence. Two months in, the current trajectory puts pressure on the team to regain visibility and rebuild the routine that live-service players need to stay invested.

Recent reviews suggest the game is improving. On Steam, its rating has climbed to “Mostly Positive,” helped by patches that polish systems and expand options. For a portion of the community, the updates confirm that Skate’s mechanics still have the capacity to hold attention when given structure and support. The challenge is convincing former players to return before the window closes and the game’s reputation settles into a narrative of early decline.

Read also, Skate Story launches on December 8 with a fresh demo on Steam, giving players a brief look at its dreamlike skating journey before release. The preview, about 35 minutes long, introduces its glass-bodied protagonist and the underworld path that leads toward the moon.