15 Most Disappointing Video Games of the Generation (So Far)

8. Skate

The hunger for a fourth entry into the beloved Skate franchise was undeniable, and so when EA finally announced it way back in the summer of 2020, excitement was at a fever pitch.

Yet in the months leading up to Skate's early access launch in September 2025, EA threw up red flag after red flag which only the most blinkered die-hards were entirely capable of ignoring.

For one, EA designed Skate as an always-online title, meaning it won't be playable if EA's servers go down and when, as is inevitable, the game is eventually shut down.

On top of this, there's the free-to-play model, which ensures the game is packed with microtransaction slop, which while largely cosmetic in approach, nevertheless integrates predatory monetisation into a game most Skate fans would've happily just paid to play.

But worst of all, Skate's moment-to-moment gameplay is just incredibly dull. 

This is a soulless, maddeningly corporate facsimile of the original trilogy - a game that couldn't be much further from cool, and which offers up a barren open world with little worth doing.