EA Skate Servers Suddenly Reactivated — Here’s How to Jump Back Into Online Play

Electronic Arts’ much-anticipated Skate Early Access roll-out hit a grinding halt overnight as EA Skate servers buckled under a surge of skaters eager to drop into San Vansterdam. Thousands reported queue times stretching past the 30-minute mark, repeated “Error Code 852146987,” and outright disconnects that left the skateboarding sandbox unplayable for large chunks of Tuesday and early Wednesday. What happened? • EA opened Early Access at staggered launch times on 16 September 2025, but within minutes server capacity maxed out worldwide. • Full Circle, the studio behind Skate, acknowledged “a LOT of players trying to join” and said backend engineers were “actively increasing capacity” while throttling log-ins to stabilize the experience. • A planned “short maintenance window” that began at 03:00 UTC ballooned into several hours of downtime, prompting a spike in #SkateServersDown tweets and Reddit threads tracking EA’s server status. Official word from EA EA Help’s live status page flagged “Partial Outage” for Skate across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox during the peak disruption. By 09:30 UTC the listing shifted to “Degraded Performance,” but players still reported authentication loops that prevented them from clearing the initial queue screen. Full Circle reiterated that Skate is designed as a live-service title and requires a constant online connection, a decision now facing renewed backlash as day-one purchasers struggle to play. How to check Skate server status fast 1. Visit the EA Server Status portal and select Skate for real-time outage notices. 2. Follow @EAHelp and @Skate on X for minute-by-minute maintenance updates. 3. On console, test your network connection; some disconnect errors stem from local NAT type conflicts rather than EA’s end. 4. If you see Error 852146987, power-cycle your system and router, then requeue—many users clear the error on the second attempt. Common fixes players say worked • Clear console cache (hold power for 10 seconds, unplug 30 seconds, restart). • Disable VPNs; EA’s anti-cheat flags certain VPN routes and can block log-in. • Switch from Steam to the EA app on PC; some Steam overlay conflicts are causing timeout loops. Community reaction Frustrated players note that Skate 3’s servers were offline for years before EA quietly revived them in 2019, fueling skepticism about long-term support. “Always-online for a single-player trick line is nuts,” wrote one Reddit user in a thread that shot to the platform’s front page within hours. Others praised EA for transparent communication but urged the publisher to expand server regions ahead of the full global launch planned for 16 September 2025. What’s next? Full Circle says additional server nodes are being spun up in North America and Europe “within 24 hours.” A make-good bundle of in-game cosmetics and 5,000 “Taps” (the game’s currency) will be distributed automatically to anyone who launched the client during the outage window. EA warns that short maintenance windows will continue through the week as it stress-tests cross-play and cross-progression features. Bottom line If you’re staring at the Skate login queue, the issue is server side, not your kickflip timing. Keep an eye on EA’s status feeds, try the quick fixes above, and expect sporadic disconnects until capacity upgrades roll out. For now, the best trick might be patience—Skate’s servers are still learning to stick the landing.