According to Tony Hawk, Tony Hawk’s $1 billion, 20-game legacy of professional skaters came very close to never happening.
above recent podcasts (opens in new tab)Hawk said months before he received a call from Activision, which would lead to the Pro Skater series, another company contacted him with an idea for a “more technically difficult” skating game.
“They were really trying to emulate skating,” Hawk said. , wanted something more approachable for non-skaters to play, understand, learn tricks and get started. ”
A more shimmy approach to skateboarding is perhaps best embodied today by Sessions, but I suspect the PS1-era attempt was a little rougher.
Hawk said that when he tried Activision’s prototype, it felt intuitive and “essentially right.” Still, had the company called “in a month or two,” he could have already had a deal to make other games, and the Pro Skater series would never have happened.
During the interview, Hawk also said Activision tried to buy out his future royalties shortly before THPS was launched. Despite being offered $500,000, he turned it down. Decisive!
If you don’t follow Hawk n twitter (opens in new tab),I strongly recommend it. It’s mostly about people not recognizing him at the airport or asking if he was named after a video game. What would the skateboarding game be like today if I hadn’t spent hours on the couch trying out the 900?
