26 July 2023 , 13:25
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Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk revealed that he earned millions of dollars from the first three video games from his name.
Hawk is widely regarded as one of the most iconic skateboarders in history, with the 55-year-old having a series of video games named in his honour. In 1999, the first ‘Pro Skater’ game was released by Activision and had Hawk as the cover star.
The video game became one of the most popular sporting games of its generation. Eventually, more would be released in the series, with sequels continuing to arrive up to the present day.
Second, third and fourth installments of ‘Pro Skater’ were released in consecutive years at the turn of the millennium. There were further games released up to 2020, including ‘Underground’, ‘American Wasteland’, ‘Project 8’ and ‘Proving Ground’.
There would be a delay in the release of the fifth installment of ‘Pro Skater’, with the game not available until 2015. That is the last game as part of that particular series to be released.
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Hawk was speaking on , and he was asked about his earnings from the video games. And the skateboarding legend went on to reveal that he was able to bank $4 million (£2.3 million) from the first three video games which were released from 1999-2001.
The skateboarding legend went on to explain how the video game series affected his life for the better, including his reaction to receiving his first paycheck.
“I will give you this: when the fourth game was released my main contact at Activision asked to have lunch with me in LA when I was there one day,” said Hawk. “He’s not the head but he’s definitely the guy overseeing our games.
Tony Hawk is widely regarded as one of the best skateboarders in history (David Livingston/FilmMagic)“He’s like, ‘Here’s what’s happening, we’re releasing the fourth game. The last three are still in the top 10 of sales, one is going into…’ I forgot what they call it, it’s like classics mode which means they sell it at a certain price but way more volume.
"He’s like ‘so things are way bigger than you ever thought’, and he handed me a check for $4 million.
Hawk added: “I might have put it in the ATM. I’m not kidding, I was always on the go back then. I was just like alright, here we go. No, I don’t want to downplay that. It changed my life, the video game changed my life.”