Skate 4 will be a free-to-play live service game, this was announced by developer Full Circle in a recent video.
Full Circle has stated they want Skate to be a constantly evolving and community-driven game, so free-to-play was the natural choice given their goals (via The Verge).
Despite the game being free-to-play, Full Circle has laid down the terms of this model in advance.
This is because developer Full Circle doesn’t see their game as a sequel or a reboot but rather as the future of the series that will constantly evolve over the years.