Activision seems to be as resilient as their gaming audience. They don't let franchises die; they eventually respawn them. According to some tweets from the skateboarding legend himself, a brand new Tony Hawk game is on the way for home consoles and mobile devices in 2015.
Over on Twitter, Hawk posted the following message about what gamers could expect from him and his long-time business partner, Activision, in 2015.
Earlier in the year Tony Hawk had gone on Larry King's show where he revealed that the new Tony Hawk Pro Skater would be exclusive to mobile devices. The game was called Tony Hawk's Shred Session IGN gave a decent rundown prior to the game's release, but it was then indefinitely delayed to coincide with the launch of the console version of the game due out next year.
I think there's that harsh reality that sets in when people realize that mobile gaming isn't quite all that big with core gamers the way it is with casual gamers. Tony Hawk Pro Skater has always been a niche, core series. It seemed unlikely that an exclusive mobile title would be highly anticipated by fans who grew up on the series since the old days of the PlayStation One.
If I had to hazard a guess, I would guess that Activision probably wants the mobile app to tie-in with the console port, so that gamers can get a cross-platform experience. It's one of the recent trends that we've been seeing from big triple-A titles where games like Grand Theft Auto V or Watch Dogs come with mobile companion apps to broaden the appeal of the brand as well as maintain engagement with the property even outside of its intended medium within the market.
Of course, there's no way to know for sure what Activision has planned for the series, but with a 2015 release we at least know that they'll have the latest and greatest technology at their disposal to push the property to new heights.
After the extreme sports sub-genre became over-saturated with low-quality outings and annual rehashes, it appears as if Activision is going to approach Tony Hawk's latest title in the same way that they've aimed to revitalize Call of Duty by including everything but the kitchen sink to revitalize market interest.
I really have no idea what they can do with the series at this point. They originally tried something pretty outlandish with Tony Hawk SHRED back in 2010, but it didn't quite ignite the kind of spark that the mega-publsher had hoped for.
I'm curious what they'll do with next year's outing and what sort of technological advances they'll implement into the game?
