Nostalgic players on PS5 and PS4 warmly received Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, so it seemed reasonable enough to assume that another collection could be in the offing. Sadly, according to a new report, Vicarious Visions pitched Activision on the subject, but it was summarily rejected, with the studio instead being drafted into the relentless Call of Duty war machine.
This intriguing tidbit comes to us through video game historian Liam Robertson of DidYouKnowGaming, who, in a new video (thanks, VGC), claims that the plan was originally to package all four games in one big bundle, but time restraints prevented this.
According to Robertson's sources at Vicarious Visions: "We settled on adding some handling features from the later games to reflect the way people remember the old Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. The improvements from 3 seemed to bleed into people’s memories of the first 2. Eventually, it became clear that we didn’t have time for more than 1 + 2, so the idea that we’d continue on and release 3 + 4 in some fashion was on the table.”
While a pitch was reportedly presented to Activision, it was declined. Vicarious Visions was instead put to work as a support studio for Call of Duty and assisted with the release of Diablo 2: Resurrected. In 2022, Tony Hawk himself revealed that remasters of 3 + 4 were on the table right up until Vicarious Visions was fully absorbed into Activision.