Skate 2 servers go offline just as Microsoft adds Xbox backward compatibility

Skate 2

Gamers got some good news today from Microsoft: Skate 2 is now backward compatible on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. They also got bad news from EA: the servers are getting shut down.

Microsoft is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Xbox. So as part of the celebration, the company made perhaps the best announcement possible short of adding their entire first-party catalog to Xbox Game Pass. 70 additional Xbox and Xbox 360 games are backward compatible on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Skate 2 is among them.

The celebration is short-lived, though, as Electronic Arts dropped the news that they were shutting down the game’s servers next month. In addition to the Xbox 360 servers, the PS3 servers are also going dark. In fairness to EA, the game launched on PS3 and Xbox 360 way back in January 2009.

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“We’re providing a heads up that on December 10, 2021, we will be turning off the Skate 2 online servers for PlayStation and Xbox,” the company said in a tweet on the official Skate account. “It’s not an easy decision and not something we take lightly.”

The server shutdown only affects that game’s online multiplayer component. Single-player modes will remain active.

My Take

Honestly, it’s surprising that the servers are even still up. That being said, it still sucks for fans who want to try out the newly backward compatible title on their Xbox One or their new Xbox Series X. The timing of the announcement is unfortunate. I guess fans will have to wait for Skate 4 to eventually come out.

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