The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
EA skate.'s 'Drop In': 100 real skaters launch a game 15 years in the making (2025)
Uncommon built a skate park in Mexico City, cast 100 real skaters and zero actors for EA skate.'s return — a launch film that won a One Show 2026 Gold Pencil.
Electronic Arts (EA Skate) · Uncommon Creative Studio New York · Riff Raff Films
What it had to solve
The skate. franchise, whose realistic Flick-It controls had last shipped a main-line title in 2010, returned in September 2025 as a free-to-play, cross-platform sandbox from EA's Full Circle studio, set in the fictional city of San Vansterdam. EA and Uncommon Creative Studio New York had to introduce the game to a generation that never played Skate 1–3 without alienating the skaters who had kept the name alive for 15 years — the campaign had to be credible inside skate culture before it could speak to gamers.
How it works
After more than 15 years without a full new skate. game, EA returned the franchise in September 2025 as a free-to-play sandbox built by its Full Circle studio, set in the sprawling fictional city of San Vansterdam. The realistic, Flick-It-control series had last shipped a main-line title in 2010, and its reboot was a cultural test: skateboarding is a lived culture, and a launch that felt manufactured could alienate the very riders EA needed on side. Uncommon Creative Studio New York got the brief to make the game's return feel inherited, not invented.
Uncommon built a real skate park in Mexico City, street-cast 100 local skaters with zero actors, and put riders in front of and behind the camera: icons such as Ishod Wair, Jerry Hsu, Atiba Jefferson and Sean Malto mixed with locals like Kiki Kakitani and Brayan Coria, while skater-cinematographer Sirus Gahan filmed on a skateboard. Directed by The Sacred Egg of Riff Raff Films, the resulting 'Drop In' film opens like a DIY skate video and builds into a surreal ride through the game world, where anyone can skate anything. Riders stayed long after wrap, and several became a real crew.
The campaign launched skate. into Early Access on 16 September 2025 with more than one million sign-ups ahead of the release, which EA's team called the largest in the company's history. At The One Show 2026, 'Drop In' won a Gold Pencil in Film & Video for Uncommon Creative Studio, working with Electric Theatre Collective London and Riff Raff Films — an award that closed a launch built on letting the community make the ad itself.
Why it lands
- Street-casting 100 local riders with zero actors put skate culture's credibility inside the frame, so the ad could not be accused of borrowing it.
- Building an actual park in Mexico City made the shoot a real session: skaters stayed after wrap and formed a crew, exactly the community the game hoped to host.
- Letting a skater shoot second unit from a skateboard gave the film a point of view no tripod could fake, matching the DIY-video energy of real skate edits.
- The campaign measured itself the community's way: more than one million sign-ups before Early Access, the largest in EA history, plus a One Show 2026 Gold Pencil.
What it did
The campaign ran across TV, social and console as skate. launched into Early Access on 16 September 2025, having drawn more than one million sign-ups — the largest in EA's history, per the agency's campaign release. The film carried the launch of a franchise many had counted out, and at The One Show 2026 'Drop In' won a Gold Pencil in Film & Video for Uncommon, working with Electric Theatre Collective London and Riff Raff Films.
What you can take
When a community owns the culture you are selling, hand it the shoot: 100 real skaters and a park built in the right city made a 15-year relaunch feel inherited rather than manufactured.
Since then
skate. entered Early Access free-to-play on 16 September 2025 across PlayStation, Xbox and PC with cross-platform play, and 'Drop In' anchored the launch across TV, social and console. EA framed the film as an open invitation: players were told to paint their own lines and make the community their own, and the game kept evolving through Early Access with new content shaped by players. In May 2026 the work capped its run at The One Show, where Uncommon Creative Studio took a Gold Pencil in Film & Video for EA Skate 'Drop In' with Electric Theatre Collective London and Riff Raff Films.
Sources
- Uncommon Creative Studio: For the love of skate.
- Experience San Vansterdam Like Never Before in Bold EA Skate Spot
- EA's Long-Awaited Skate Reboot Drops Viewers Into the Heart of the Community
- Drop In — D&AD Awards entry
- EA and Full Circle Launch Early Access for skate.
- Ogilvy Singapore Tops 2026 One Show Pencil Winners with 9 Golds
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