A growing segment of the Skate community is voicing frustration over challenges that require players to complete goals while in a party, arguing that the system unfairly locks solo players out of seasonal progress and rewards.
In a highly upvoted Reddit post titled “A Letter to the Devs,” one player criticized the game for “forcing us to do parties for goals,” calling the requirements “unwelcome, unfair, and unwanted” for players who prefer skating solo. While the initial post struck a blunt tone, the author later clarified that the frustration comes from wanting the game to succeed — not from negativity for negativity’s sake.
“I desperately want this game to be what it was promised to be,” the poster wrote, praising Skate‘s core mechanics, including its skating feel, evolving music tracks, rooftop spots, pools, and parkour additions. The issue, they argue, isn’t the multiplayer itself, but rather that event progress is effectively gated behind party play.
Do Skate Players Agree?
That sentiment was echoed throughout the thread, with dozens of replies pointing to the same core issue: the lack of functional matchmaking. Players noted that while co-op content can be enjoyable, the current system relies heavily on manually inviting strangers one by one or hoping others notice and join party beacons — a feature many say is poorly communicated and easy to miss.
Oftentimes, challenges have been either extremely difficult or outright impossible to complete solo, leading some to suggest that matchmaking should be a feature that’s implemented in the future. Others suggested solutions ranging from automated challenge queues and lobby-wide invites to designated “party up” areas, such as the Skate Shop or social hubs, where players actively looking to group up can gather.
Regardless, the debate highlights a broader tension within Skate‘s evolving live-service structure: balancing community-driven, solo-friendly skating with engagement systems designed to encourage social play.
Eyes will turn to developer Full Circle to see if anything can be done about this issue. However, the issue seems simple enough to fix and boils down to a binary choice — either let players progress when playing by themselves, or provide them with a mechanic/feature that allows them to easily find other players.
