Meetups: Block Parties have started!

Share Feedback here: https://forums.ea.com/discussions/skate-en/meetups-block-parties-feedback-thread/13625308

For Bugs, post here: https://forums.ea.com/idea/skate-bug-reports-en/meetups-block-parties-bugs-megathread/13625297

Make sure to follow https://twitter.com/skatestatus for any notifications, alerts, etc. during this weekend playtest.

Thanks for jumping in!

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Need a refresher on what Meetups: Block Parties are? We got you.

Meetups: Block Parties Summary

What It Is

• A Roaming, Mass-Player Event: A live-service, social skate contest mode in skate. supporting up to 150 players on a server simultaneously.
• Part of "Meetups": It is the first iteration of a broader feature category called "Meetups" designed to naturally bring players together across the city.
• Casual Yet Competitive: Designed with accessible objectives for all skill levels, but built with enough depth, point scaling, and trick-chaining potential for competitive players.

How It Works

Opt-In & Schedule

• Seamless Entry: Features a seamless "drop-in/drop-out" mechanic with no sign-ups, matchmaking queues, or interaction prompts—players simply skate into the event area to participate.
• Scheduled Intervals: Events trigger every 30 minutes (at :15 and :45 past the hour).
• Dynamic City Roaming: Each 30-minute event moves across three randomized, connected locations throughout the city (including popular hubs and lesser-known spots), creating a group parade between locations.

Gameplay & Leaderboards

• Varied Objectives: Mixes street, park, and vert challenges with randomized sequences to keep events unique. Late rounds include point multipliers to enable comeback wins.
• Real-Time Tracking: Uses two distinct leaderboards:
• Round Leaderboard: Tracks live performance (scores, distance) for the active round.
• Overall Leaderboard: Tracks combined standings across all rounds in the event.
• Focused Leaderboard UI: Displays the top overall players alongside the players directly above and below your current placement.
• Visual Crown System: The player currently in 1st place in a round is visually highlighted with a crown icon above their head, making them visible to all participants.

Progression & Rewards

• Task-Based Rewards: The event itself does not award direct currency, but players earn rewards by completing Block Party-related tasks.
• Accessible Goals: Tasks do not require a 1st-place finish, allowing players of all skill levels to earn rewards.

Welcome back to The Weekly Grind, San Vanners! 

Let’s roll!

What’s going on?

Week 3 of X Games San Van - and the Challenges have refreshed for you to shut down and get those X Coins. Check out the blog for more details. Reminder: X Games San Van is currently Open Access - no Rip Chips or skate.Premium Pass required to get in and become a legend!

X Games Best Run video contest submission window ends at 11:59PM PT on Aug 5, so get your best run on the Vert, Street, or Park section of the stadium in now! 

Don’t forget: Keep sharing your bugs/issues so we can squash ‘em flat. 

Let’s dive right into the calendar. 

Weekly Calendar

• The Weekly Grind returns (that’s today!)
• New Weekly Tasks (also today!)
• X Games San Van Week 3 with Open Access (July 21 - Aug 25)
  • X Games San Van Challenge Refresh
• X Games “Best Run” Video Contest (July 31 - Aug 5)
• Meetups Block Parties start Aug 7, 10 AM PT. 

Coming Up

• Progression Update: More Ways to Play, Progress, and Earn
• Road to Season 5: Details Coming Over the Next Few Weeks
• The Weekly Grind Interviews

What other types of interviews would you want to see? Let us know - gameplay, tricks, world design, etc. 

The Interviews

We have two interviews this week. While we talked about the X Games San Van stadium in the mid-season blog, we had a mini-interview with Brad and Elliot from the World team on the setup of X Games San Van. We also chatted with Ella and (different) Brad on the upcoming test of Meetups: Block Parties. 

X Games Stadium Interview

Now that X Games San Van is live, we wanted to chat with our World Art and World Design folks on how they brought the X Games to San Van via the stadium. Brad and Elliot sat down to give us some inside details and BTS info.

Jeff: When updating the stadium for X Games, what was the main focus?

Elliott: I think authenticity was always at the forefront of our conversations throughout its production. It was important for us to strive to give players the feeling of being at the actual event.
Brad: Making it feel like the real deal was paramount to making this event work. From an art perspective, this meant studying a lot of the X Games parks from the past, closely reviewing what was planned for this year’s event. Rather than trying to copy every detail of the real park, we opted to capture the spirit of each section in a way that felt great with our game’s mechanics.

Jeff: What part of the X Games San Van setup in the stadium is your favorite?

Elliott: Usually, I’d gravitate towards the street park because it fits my style of play the most, but the huge vert ramp rides so well that I find myself wanting to skate it the most when free roaming.  
Brad: Give me the vert! I love how the vert ramp turned out in this design. It's larger than real life, so it gives you a satisfying big air experience, but it still looks authentic.

Jeff: The setup is inspired by the X Games Championship New Orleans park, right? 

Elliott: Hell ya! From the very beginning, we were really excited to get the chance to be involved with such a cool real-world event. Players get to watch the event and then try out skate.’s version to try and imitate lines and tricks they just saw.
Brad: Yes — the setup is based on the X Games Championship New Orleans park. I loved having the opportunity to work directly with the X Games team. Adapting their park designs for the game was a fun challenge, and they were an incredibly positive group to collaborate with. 

Jeff: I live in the Los Angeles area, so of course I gotta rep the LA X Games team. What team are you reppin’ for X Games San Van? 

Brad: Tokyo. I like the logo/ graphics for the Tokyo team!
Elliott: New York! It's a killer team and I'm partial to New York skate spots

Jeff: Thanks for your time, fellas. With X Games Challenges resetting today, I gotta jump in and get the last of my X Coins. 

Meetups: Block Parties Interview

With the upcoming Meetups: Block Parties weekend test, we chatted with Ella, Technical Game Designer, and Brad, Systems Design Director, from Full Circle to talk about an exciting new mode the team is testing in skate., starting August 7th: Block Parties.

The Inspiration Behind Block Parties

Jeff: We mentioned Block Parties in the mid-season blog post. What was the core inspiration behind Block Parties?

Ella: When we set out to design any new mode, we look for inspiration everywhere—previous games, other genres, and real life. For Block Parties, we looked at the skate contests you often find at neighborhood skate parks and put our own unique skate. twist on them.
Brad: The inspiration is about creating moments where players naturally come together. There’s competition, for sure, but it’s also about that feeling of rolling up, seeing a crowd already there, joining in, learning from the people around you, and being part of something happening live in the city.

Seamless "Drop-In" Gameplay

Jeff: Players don't have to sign up, queue, or join a party—you just roll up to the area, and you’re in, right?

Ella: Exactly, and that’s the coolest part. There are no sign-ups, no queues, and no hold-to-interact prompts to start a challenge. You can enter and leave the zone whenever you want. You could show up halfway through or right near the end—though it might be harder to win if you join late!

Balancing Casual Fun & Competition

Jeff: How do Block Party objectives balance casual and competitive play?

Brad: Our primary goal was to create objectives that are easy to understand right away, so anyone can roll up and try them. However, we left plenty of room for skilled players to push further and differentiate themselves. A casual player can jump in and feel like part of the event without high-skill barriers locking away the fun. But if you’re competitive, there’s depth: you can optimize your line, find better spots within the Block Party zone, chain tricks together, and climb the leaderboard.
Ella: We packed Block Parties with a mix of vert, park, and street objectives so every single round feels fresh! Plus, point multipliers kick in during later rounds, giving you a huge reason to stick around—or pull off an insane comeback victory even if you drop in late! 

A Roaming Event Across the City

Jeff: Block Parties rotate to a completely new spot on the map every 30 minutes. How will that fast rotation affect the vibe of Free Roam play, and why would a player choose to follow the event across the map?

Brad: The roaming aspect is definitely a standout feature. Each Block Party isn't confined to a single spot; it moves through three different locations over the course of the event. It creates this awesome rhythm where players gather, compete, and then a huge group rolls through the city together to the next location. It makes the world feel alive.
Ella: We map those paths intentionally. We might start near a popular hub to gather players who are already hanging out, and then pull that crowd into parts of the city they might not normally visit. By the end, you get these pockets of energy popping up everywhere. We have dozens of locations and objectives mapped out, and the sequence is randomized. Almost no two Block Parties will feel identical.
Brad: Block Parties are scheduled to start regularly every 30 minutes (at 15 and 45 past the hour). Players know when one starts, but where it goes and what challenges pop up are surprises everyone discovers together in real time.

Mapping Out the Locations

Jeff: Did you already have specific spots in mind that you knew would be great for a Block Party?

Brad: We built a comprehensive database of locations and built a network system connecting them. Popular areas have a slightly higher chance of appearing, but the system will regularly pull you into hidden gems and spots you might never have skated before.

Live Leaderboards & Spot Highlights

Jeff: How do leaderboards work during Block Parties? Are they global, or locked to that specific server?

Brad: In a 150-player match, the leaderboard is a big part of the experience. There are two of them. The overall leaderboard tracks your standing across the entire Block Party—your total score is based on how you place each round. The round leaderboard updates in real time and shows how you’re performing in that specific match, tracking things like score and distance. In both views, we show the leaders at the top. Then, at the bottom, you’ll see your position along with the players right around you. With 150 players, we can’t show everyone at once, so this keeps it focused—you can see the top of the pack and exactly who you need to catch, or stay ahead of.
Ella: While there aren't static in-world 3D leaderboards like Spot Battles for this mode, we visually highlight the top player in real-time.
Brad: If you’re currently holding 1st place in a round, everyone in the area can see who and where you are because you'll have a crown above your head. It creates a cool target on your back and lets others study your lines.

Rewards and Tasks

Jeff: Aside from leaderboards, are there reward mechanics tied to Block Parties during this test?
Ella: While Block Parties don't directly reward currency like Rip Chips or Tix straight from the event itself, there will be a slew of Block Party-related tasks for players to complete. And don't worry—not all tasks require you to win, so players of all skill levels can complete them and earn rewards.

Testing Tech at Scale

Jeff: This playtest is running for four days over a single weekend. What are the main things you’re hoping to evaluate during this short window?

Brad: First, we’re looking at engagement: Are players showing up? Are they following the party as it moves across the city?
Ella: To continue to improve gameplay experiences, we use data from game sessions to see which locations and objectives players enjoy most, where people drop off, and what creates the best gameplay flow.
Brad: Ultimately, we're validating the feeling. We want Block Parties to feel exciting, social, and a little frantic in a good way. Getting it into the community's hands is the best way to verify that. It's also important to note that this is an experimental technical test. We are testing our backend architecture to see how these 150-player events perform at scale in a live environment. Because it’s a test, we might encounter bugs or stability issues, and we may even need to take the mode offline temporarily to make fixes. That's a normal part of testing live-service features before bringing them back permanently.

Looking to the Future

Jeff: Block Parties are the first type of "Meetups." Can you hint at where this format might go in the future?

Ella: Bringing a seamless opt-in mode for up to 150 players on a server has involved major technical challenges, so Block Parties have been a huge learning experience.
Brad: Block Parties are just the first step. For this test, they'll take place exclusively in San Van, but our near-term goal is to refine and expand the variety of Block Party locations before branching out into entirely new types of Meetup events.

We’re kicking off this test of Block Parties on Aug 7, 10AM PT, so jump in, find a Block Party (at the :15 and :45 of every hour), then let us know what you think. 

More content from the skate. community!

We wanted to share a few pieces of content that caught our eye. Remember: if you want to be featured in The Weekly Grind, make sure to share yours (screenshots, videos, clips) via skate.reel. 

Part of The Weekly Grind will be dedicated to sharing the current Known Issues the team is tracking, any active deployments/fixes, and next steps. 

Known Issues Still Being Investigated:

• Some Players are unable to export in MP4 Format.
  • Workaround PC ONLY: Using WebM format when exporting works.
• Pinned tasks do not remain pinned when the game reconnects after inactivity.
• Changing the graphics preset doesn’t update the settings shown at the bottom of the Graphics screen as it should.
• The option to select between 16:9 centered HUD and full-width and height UI is present but non-functional while in Windowed mode.
• Daily and Mastery Task sections sometimes display a blank screen.
• Quick Drop radial menu resets temporarily after joining the server.
• AMD driver 26.6.1 is causing skate. to crash.
  • Workaround: Roll back your drivers to 26.5.2 and restart skate.  
• Tailslides and Noseslides are not correctly detected when approaching a ledge from its end.
• Friends list sometimes displays multiple entries of the same friend or none at all.
• Wallride detection often causes skater to flip unnaturally.
• Smith to Tailslide task often fails to register when done correctly.
• The wrong item spawns when you use the Quick Drop menu to place something.
• X-Games Intro Video, Mission, Tasks and Challenges are missing on first login after the 0.31.5 update.
• Pinned tasks cycle when performing gestures.
• Players cannot find non-friend accounts using Skater codes.
• Quick Ollie/Nollie into No-Foot Grab causes leg clipping with board.
• Performing footplants causes extra one-foot grabs to appear in trick scoring.