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Neversoft Head Confirms They're Not Doing Next Tony Hawk

Not surprising, but still a legit confirmation.

Joel Jewett
Joel Jewett
Neversoft head Joel Jewett is the subject of a "local boy makes very, very good" sort of article in the Great Falls Tribune this morning. The Montana-based paper covers Jewett's early years, when he made his own skateboards and skated around Great Falls, to his eventual rise as head of the developer of the world's hugest skateboarding franchise in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, to their current transition into being the head of all things Guitar Hero.

In the interview, Jewett confirms that Neversoft has moved on from the skateboarding genre that it made famous. Here's the relevant portion:

Neversoft plans to release more sequels to the "Guitar Hero" series — including the much-ballyhooed "Guitar Hero: Metallica" set for release during the first quarter of this year — but the company has let the Tony Hawk series go to another developer.

"It's probably best for the franchise ... it's time for someone else to add fresh ideas to it," Jewett said.

This isn't a huge surprise, but I'm pretty sure this is the first public admission that the company has moved on and left Tony Hawk to someone else. That someone else, if you remember the rumor we discussed on the podcast last summer, is likely to be Chicago-based Robomodo, a new developer headed by former EA Chicago and Studio Gigante heads. Officially, all Robomodo has said is that they exist, and that they're working on "a high-profile extreme sports title for Activision Blizzard."
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Rowr

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Edited By Rowr

I like alot of people im sure, am done with it forever. Theres nothing left of the dead horse. Theres nothing you can do with it that will inspire me to want to spend any considerable time with it.

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Yukoei

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Edited By Yukoei
@DOUBLESHOCK said:
" It's called Skate. "
this
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jmrwacko

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Edited By jmrwacko

Just wanted to resurrect this topic to point out how horribly off the positive predictions were for this game.

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thedez

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Edited By thedez

Nice 'stache.

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Media_Master

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Edited By Media_Master

well, hopefully the next Tony Hawk will be reborn

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Hexpane

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Edited By Hexpane
Smallville123 said:
"So instead of killing tony hawk there now gonna do the same shit to guitar hero releasing 50 bajillion more guitar based games."
Blame Activision, they give the marching orders and pay the bills.  THe choice is either Milk Guitar Hero until it becomes unplayable nonsense like THPS became, OR get laid off.

I think all of us here would chose to milk away mon capiton!
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smallville123

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Edited By smallville123

So instead of killing tony hawk there now gonna do the same shit to guitar hero releasing 50 bajillion more guitar based games.

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Fiziks

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Edited By Fiziks

THPS 3 and 4 were easily the pinnacle of the series, after that Neversoft's idea of "refreshing the series", was just to add more stuff onto the skating, instead of actually refining the gameplay itself. Hopefully the skate series doesn't fall to the same gimmicky-ness that plagued the later iterations of THPS.

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Hexpane

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Edited By Hexpane

So a confirmed dead horse beating cow milker is now going to stop milking Cow A and instead milk Cow B.

Guitar Hero is a soulless shell of the true music game of Rock Band.  Further proof that simply owning a license may generate cash, but the quality almost always drops

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SubTact

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Edited By SubTact

I'm very pessimistic as far as people that worked at EA Chicago taking the Tony Hawk games in a "new direction".  After all, EA Chicago was the developer that ruined the Def Jam series by adding some interesting concepts (environment events controlled by the music playing) but at the sacrifice of the core gameplay being very meh.  I really wish the Aiki developed Def Jam Fight For NY got at least one sequel that was more of the same (fighting/wrestling game mechanic similar to the THQ N64 Aiki wretling games, over the top/tongue in cheek story, and crazy amount of character customization options).  The only positive I see right now is that this time they're taking over a series that has been run into the ground, where as with Def Jam, it was a series that reached its high point in the previous game.

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MattyFTM

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Edited By MattyFTM  Moderator
DiGiTaL_SiN said:
"I used to LOVE the Tony Hawk series... But I think I'm over the whole skateboard games genre right now."
I'm the same. Skate was a mildly entertaining new direction, but I think I'm pretty much done with skateboarding games.
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rentfn

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Edited By rentfn

their too busy mucking up Guitar Hero

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smokeH

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Edited By smokeH

It will be interesting to see new developers do new things. Hopefully improve the franchise.

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Callumrides

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Edited By Callumrides

Might sound bad but could be a good thing getting someone new to dev it lets face it the last tony hawks game was an epic failur what was a shame considering im a big fan of the series

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DaBigDawg

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Edited By DaBigDawg

Let's be honest, as good as the old Tony Hawk games were, the most recent ones were dissapointing.  I think this series is dead.

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jimbojones

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Edited By jimbojones

Tony Hawk is dead, Hawk skateboards are dead, Tony Hawk the video games is dead. The universe is over people

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DisAbiLityFisHy

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Edited By DisAbiLityFisHy

The Tony Hawk video game franchise needs to re-think it's whole... everything. Skate simply blows it out of the water, especially with the Flick-it controls. ReTarDedFisHy really hopes they can make Tony Hawk fun again. But wow, Neversoft not doing the next Tony Hawk... odd, to say the least.

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Vance_Helsing

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Edited By Vance_Helsing

You know what, even if the game will have some useless peripheral, at least they're acknowledging that the game has been getting stale over the years. I love Skate, and I'm definitely buying the sequel in a few weeks, but I'm pretty excited to see what the new developer can dish out.

Can't say that I'll be too excited for the yearly renditions of the game if it really ends up taking off though.

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Edited By MrKlorox
jakob187 said:
"Scooper said:
"Tony Hawk's got stale over the years, it's good to see another developer taking the reigns and I'll be interested to see what they can pull off."
*points at Tomb Raider*
Yes, because switching developers works...

*EDIT*
*points at Guitar Hero*
Yes, because switching developers works...
"
*points at Fallout 3*
Yes, because switching developers works... well sometimes it actually does.
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lvl10Wizard

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Edited By lvl10Wizard

Count me out, Tony Hawks games are dead to me now. 

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

It's called Thrasher - Skate and Destroy. Skate is only the reinvention of the same concept except using thumbsticks. T:S&D never got a sequel because of the tone of the first game. People wanted frantic action, not slow deliberation -- hence the success and lack of actual iteration THPS received.

Rockstar missed the boat on skateboarding games when they could have become the next Activision.

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TwoOneFive

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Edited By TwoOneFive

how could they have possibly let this happen? i still am totally blown away with how they are letting Skate overtake the Tony Hawk franchise. I remember Tony Hawk 3 got a 10 (correct me if im wrong) on gamespot. its unbelievable that these dumbasses at neversoft decided that completely copying another studios franchise would be a better idea, and yet they still manage to release an inferior game. how many people work for neversoft? you mean to tell me nobody there can come up with fresh ideas for the franchise? hell they're so experienced with copying other by now (world tour for example) they could easily try to match what EA's Skate is doing, and totally outdo them and have a game full of more well known names. 

ya know what.....it is still a good idea they let it go, but this should not be, by all means, a positive thing to say about Neversoft. 
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TheGreatGuero

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Edited By TheGreatGuero

Studio Gigante? Isn't that Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias' company? Interesting... Goro as an unlockable skater, perhaps? Sweet.

Anyway, I'm bummed that Neversoft has ditched their flagship series. I've always been a huge fan of the THPS series. Sure, it's had some ups and downs, with Proving Ground being waaaay down, but I did think Tony Hawk's Project 8 ended up being a solid transition to next-gen consoles. I've heard rumors of Tony Hawk now going peripheral based, like Skate It, using the Wii Balance Board and such. I certainly hope that's not the case. Regardless, I just hope the new company does justice to the series. Neversoft has sadly milked it long enough. Now it looks like they've moved on to milking Guitar Hero, and already that act is getting way old.

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agentboolen

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Edited By agentboolen

I agree that the games need to be work on by another developer for some new fresh take, but I gotta point out that his company is just doing paint by numbers guitar hero games!!!  I think Neversoft needs to do something else besides these really boring GH games.  Sure I jammed with the 3rd game but a year later and i am bored with that style of game play. Get some crazy, creative ideas going for a new game man.

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Edited By jakob187
Scooper said:
"Tony Hawk's got stale over the years, it's good to see another developer taking the reigns and I'll be interested to see what they can pull off."
*points at Tomb Raider*
Yes, because switching developers works...

*EDIT*
*points at Guitar Hero*
Yes, because switching developers works...
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Giantsquirrel

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Edited By Giantsquirrel

Funny, I actually read that article from the Great Falls Tribune today (I live in MT), but didn't care.

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Chytynous

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Edited By Chytynous

The last one I played was THPS4. In six years, haven't seen a reason to come back.

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codetherion

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Edited By codetherion

I'm just curious as to how many skate board fans there are who want to sit in side and play the game rather than being out on a board

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niall077

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Edited By niall077
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JJOR64

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Edited By JJOR64

Damn, I guess they stooped milking Tony Hawk and time to milk Guitar Hero now.

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Silverevilchao

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Edited By Silverevilchao

Just axe Tony Hawk already. The world only needs so many Tony Hawk games...

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duke731

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Edited By duke731

The Skate series is a nice new,fresh alternative to Tony Hawk games. However, I still think I've had much more fun playing the Tony Hawk Underground games much more then the Skate games. World Destruction was hilarious,fast-paced,over-the-top fun all the way through.

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dsplayer1010

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Edited By dsplayer1010

Probably for the best

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roofy

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Edited By roofy

im curious to see the horrific piece of hardware they are going to impose upon the gamer to play this next game.
cant wait indeed

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dudacles

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Edited By dudacles

Tony Hawk is completely dead for me. They would have to give the franchise a big overhaul to get me interested in it again. I've pretty much moved on to skate., although I'm not sure I'll get Skate 2.

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dtran1212

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Edited By dtran1212

sad

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RHCPfan24

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Edited By RHCPfan24

Skate is the only skateboarding game I am interested in anymore. Its too bad, because I loved the Tony Hawk games for a while.

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octaslash

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Edited By octaslash

Looks like the franchise is going to bite the dust, along with Need for Speed. This is a direct result of annually "exploiting" them.

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Afroman269

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Edited By Afroman269

It was eventually going to happen due to all the crap GH spin-offs that they are going to have to make.

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ZombiePie

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Edited By ZombiePie  Staff

Well I might give the franchise one more chance, but after that....

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JoelTGM

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Edited By JoelTGM

It's called Skate.

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HandsomeDead

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Edited By HandsomeDead

I'd say it was a good idea were it not for the idea that this new game will have some peripheral with it. This doesn't sound good in any way, shape or form.

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Edited By vibratingdonkey

This is the one with that rumored peripheral right? This is of course stupid, I hope they realize this. We don't want more plastic crap in our homes. At least I don't. All it'll do is raise the price of thing so it sells less and then they go and start firing people and everybody dies.

Other than that, yeah, this could only be a good thing.

Good going for the developers walking around with hard-ons too...I guess. At least they get to run a different franchise into the ground.

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digital_sin

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Edited By digital_sin

I used to LOVE the Tony Hawk series... But I think I'm over the whole skateboard games genre right now.

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Ghostin

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Edited By Ghostin

As long as it doesn't require a peripheral, I'm cautiously optimistic.

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ManMadeGod

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Edited By ManMadeGod
"It's probably best for the franchise ... it's time for someone else to add fresh ideas to it,"

I couldn't have said that better myself. Tony Hawk needs something new because quite frankly Skate has really taken over the skateboard market imo.
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Kodo_Beast

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Edited By Kodo_Beast

Good. Hopefully a change in developer is what the franchise needs. It started to suck after THPS4, although THUG wasn't horrible.

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Captain_Fookup

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Edited By Captain_Fookup

I just wish the Tony Hawk Series would die off, it went downhill after 4.

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Sarkhan

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Edited By Sarkhan

Like the man said. Its best to get a new set of eyeys on this franchise. Hope they can make Tony Hawk fun again :)