Whoever runs EA's Twitter account has royally plowed the hornet's nest with a tweet dismissing single-player games.
Let's bear in mind the stable of amazing single-player titles under the EA umbrella, to appreciate the true boldness of the tweet. There's Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and long-running classic, The Sims, to name a few. Even as we speak, Bioware is beavering away on Dragon Age 4: Dreadwolf, while The Sims 5 is in the extremely early ‘conceptual' phase.
So it's no surprise that the EA Twitter account is having its proverbial nethers needled by (absolutely justified) barbs. Developers of EA-published games have also waded into the fray to comment on the misguided tweet (opens in new tab). Aside from ruffling feathers so hard that they've practically been plucked out, the hubbub has overshadowed other big news: EA is inviting gamers to playtest its Skate 4 “pre-pre-pre-alpha”.
Thinking about working until midnight for the better part of a year to help ship Mass Effect 2. https://t.co/POtZrFX0FiJuly 1, 2022
The Twitter account (opens in new tab) has since ‘fessed up to its misstep, saying: “Roast well deserved. We’ll take this L cause playing single player games actually makes them an 11.” You bet your butt it does. I've gone from a shaky three to a solid 11 and I'll hear no different!
As well as Bioware writer Patrick Weekes' response above about their late night's crunching, Dragon Age creative director, John Epler, chimed in with the perfect gif (opens in new tab) of Jim from The Office. You know the one. And Dragon Age 4 game director, Corinne Busche, didn't miss her chance to get in on the fun either, tweeting (opens in new tab):
“The only reason I know we’re not all living the darkest timeline is because we made DA:D single player.”
But let's not lose sight of the Skate 4 news in the midst of all this, because you can sign up to play the incredibly, super duper early version of the title.
How to play sign up for the Skate 4 alpha
The official Skate Twitter account (opens in new tab) shared the new trailer, which you can check out above, as well as a link to the Skate insider playtesting sign-up (opens in new tab) page. It's a closed text, as you'd expect, with the devs stressing that it's “very early”. The FAQ page (opens in new tab) says:
“We’re very early in the development of skate. and are bringing players into the game much sooner than is the norm in our industry. We’re incredibly passionate about skate. and want to ensure we’re building the best possible game, and that’s why we want you playing and providing feedback early enough for us to make meaningful decisions and changes ahead of a worldwide launch.”
There's no guarantee you'll get in once you sign up, with the players being invited to participate “based on varying factors defined by our goals for testing at that time in development.”
if you're interested, go sign up now and keep your fingers crossed!
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