When Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater raced onto the scene in 1999 mouths hanged, heads whirled, and cheers erupted. A new skate-boarding genre was born. There was more to it than just the legendary Tony Hawk name. The title was fresh, bold, unique, and a hell of a lot of fun to play.

Neversoft is the development company responsible for the creative genius behind it all. Activision Blizzard saw the potential early-on and took the company over in a stock flip. With this successful formula in hand and Neversoft’s marching orders by Activision Blizzard the past ten years has taken a toll on the series. The formula hasn’t changed much and as a result the rapid continuous insipid sequels caused the well established franchise to fall from glory.


Screens above from Tony Hawk's Proving Ground - check out more shots in our library!
Innovation isn’t easy, especially in big leaps. Activision Blizzard finally realized that the tenth title in the franchise, Tony Hawk’s Adrenaline, needs a fresh perspective, outlook, and some new blood. Joel Jewett, the head of Neversoft agrees that a new studio is what’s best for the franchise. Another game called Skate, from EA, outsold Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground by a ratio of 2 to 1.

What does this mean for Neversoft? Their new main focus is on Guitar Hero franchise.


Screens above from SKATE - check out more shots in our library!
As for the Tony Hawk franchise - Tony Hawk’s Adrenaline is due out in 2010. We haven't heard much about it, but there is one major difference that has been revealed by Activision Blizzard. A new motion-sensing balance board peripheral – some kind of skateboard doohickey controller! By shifting one’s weight players will be able to pull off tricks like kick-flips and ollies. Not sure about a weight limit but you can expect this controller to have a high malfunction rate in the States. The studio behind Tony Hawk's Adrenaline is still unknown but rumored to be a Chicago-based studio, the newly-founded Activision Blizzard internal Robomodo.