Hot take:
If its a free to play online multiplayer game, its not very upsetting.
Yeah, fans want another skate in the vein of the trilogy and it sucks we wont get that... But if i dont have to buy this game then idc if it will hit a premature death when it stops being supported.
Yeah its a waste of development resources and i wish online-only games didnt exist for the sake of preservation, but i wont be upset if i get to play this game and dont have to pay a dime.
Im not entirely sure itll be ftp though, so this take can be completely void.
If its FTP and all mechanics beyond cosmetics can be accessed with grinding (skate-pun... nice) rather than passes and subscriptions then a great many people need to STFU.
Mechwarrior Online is FTP and Online only, has been since 2013 when it was released, still has players, still gets updates and still makes money without p2w shenanigans. Ive got 3600 hours logged, I still play regularly. Sometimes I buy some shit in game because I'm a grownup with disposable income and 3600 hours worth of entertainment is worth a few bucks.
People expect something different, because the Skate series was different up until now. They should've branded it differently, if they didn't want fans asking for singleplayer.
I don't understand why games don't have two modes: paid, offline single player experience, and F2P online multiplayer experience. The former ensures the game will survive once the servers shut down, and the latter is a gravy train if it works out. Surely that doesn't add much to the development time...
Tons of reasons. My reason is that it felt like the first skate simulator. And the control scheme was freaking brilliant and intuitive. I couldn't adapt to Session... too complicated.
Tony hawk games were the only other skating games, but they had button-press controls and goofy physics.
Skate came out with much more realistic physics and the thumbstick flicking controls that made tricks feel purposeful.
I think people who do skate (or wanted to) got pulled in for the realistic skating lines and tricks. There was also still enough over-the-top jumps and tricks to keep younger kids entertained.