While the late 90s and early 2000s were dominated by the massive popularity of skateboarding through the success of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, another similar sport flew just under the radar as snowboarding saw significant growth in the world of gaming. Franchises like SSX and 1080 Snowboarding popularized hillside shredding and, while they never quite saw the same widespread acclaim, snowboarding games stood their own against their skateboarding counterparts. Now, with skateboarding making a resurgence in pop culture, Foam Punch's Shredders is looking to bring snowboarding back into the limelight.
Shredders was first revealed in June of last year as an Xbox Game Pass exclusive and was supposed to launch service in December. However, the game was ultimately delayed from its anticipated December release to February 2022. Now, a recent leak through Microsoft's official marketplace suggests that the release date for Shredders may have been pushed back once again, but now with a hard-set date for the game to launch.
The leak was first discovered through an update to Shredders' official page on the UK Microsoft Store, presenting players with an option to join Xbox Game Pass and listing a proper release date for Shredders. Shredders is set to arrive to Xbox Game Pass on March 17, a few weeks later than their last estimate of a February 2022 release. While no official announcement has been released from Foam Punch, a formal reveal of the game's new release date will likely soon follow.
Shredders serves as another instance of a sport that has deep-rooted history in gaming making a resurgence in recent years. Last year's Carve Snowboarding, a product of 1080 Snowboarding creator Giles Goddard, brings a fresh perspective to the mountain-side shredding by bringing the experience into VR. Goddard has also expressed his desire to see the classic snowboarding franchise make a return to Nintendo consoles on the Switch.
While snowboarding games may be few and far between in the modern games industry, snowboarding's influence is nowhere near gone from many of today's most popular games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild features snowboarding as a game mechanic through Breath of the Wild's shield-surfing technique. While SSX hasn't seen a new title in just under ten years and many of gaming's other most popular snowboarding franchises have been dormant for even longer, Shredders looks to provide gamers looking to hit the slopes with a fresh take on the classic sport.
Shredders will release on March 17 exclusively for Xbox Series X/S through Xbox Game Pass.
Source: Microsoft Store