Fans of extreme sports games are rejoicing, as someone accidentally announced that a new Tony Hawk game could be coming out in the near future. News that the long-dead skating franchise, now the subject of a documentary, is coming back seems to be all but officially confirmed, as it turns out another collaborator just accidentally announced its existence, again.
Experimental art-punk band The Death Set said in a Facebook post earlier today– which has since been deleted– that they had "just licensed five new songs to Tony Hawk 2020 game." They then said that fans can expect that game to come out "soon."
Considering that a new Tony Hawk game hasn't even been officially announced yet, just how soon this game will actually come out is anyone's guess. The Death Set, who has licensed songs to such video games as NBA 2K12, Gran Turismo 6, and Onrush, did mention that it was a 2020 game, so it will most likely come out sometime this year. Then again, they apparently didn't know the game hadn't even been announced yet. They probably assumed it wasn't a secret, so they could have assumed a 2020 release date as well.
This isn't the first time a collaborator accidentally revealed the existence of a new Tony Hawk game. Sometime last year, skateboarder Lizzie Armato guest-starred on a podcast talking about her appearance in the horrendous Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, which ended up being one of the most disappointing games of 2015.
While many fans believed that title was the sad end of the once-legendary Tony Hawk gaming franchise, Armato casually mentioned during the podcast that "he’s coming out with another one, and I’ll be in that too." While those listening to the original airing of the podcast may remember that sudden reveal, the line ended up being scrubbed from the podcast's archives.
Fans have been waiting a long time for a new Tony Hawk game to come out. The series had definitely lost steam after Neversoft stopped developing and Robomodo took over in 2008. The games that followed after, such as RIDE and Pro Skater 5, sold poorly and were universally panned fans and critics, and even competitors like the Skate franchise stopped making games. Apart from the recently unveiled Session, it seemed that the extreme sports genre was truly dead.
Part of that is due to Tony Hawk's contract with Activision coming to an end in 2015, which is why Pro Skater 5 was so quickly and haphazardly put together. After the release of that clearly unfinished game, the only other Tony Hawk game that has been released is the mobile title Tony Hawk's Skate Jam in 2018, which was considered a poor entry even by mobile game standards. Hopefully Activision doesn't screw up the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remake.
The Tony Hawk 2020 game has yet to be officially announced.