Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk takes in Esports World Cup in Riyadh

Arab News

a day ago

RIYADH: From skateboarding in drained swimming pools to becoming the global face of skateboarding, Tony Hawk has been at the center of an industry he has seen grow from a backyard hobby to featuring in the Olympic Games.
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And in a similar way, gaming and esports have rapidly grown into global phenomena, capturing the hearts and minds of millions worldwide. And while the world's most famous skateboarder has seen and been part of some incredible spectacles, he has been stunned by the scale of the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
'This is my first time ever in Saudi Arabia and in Riyadh at the Esports World Cup. I think the most surprising thing is the size of it,' said Hawk. 'I thought it would be one arena and games coming in and out. It's multiple arenas, thousands of competitors, it kind of takes over the whole city and it's very impressive.'
Arriving in Riyadh, Hawk took the opportunity to tick another country off his skating bucket list, breaking out his board to carve the streets of Saudi Arabia and check out the local skate scene.
'I think there's a lot of potential here, especially in skateboarding or action sports,' he said. 'I see a growing passion for skateboarding. They could really seize the opportunity and create a thriving skate scene very quickly.'
Soaking in the atmosphere and touring the Esports World Cup Festival, Hawk has garnered huge attention from local fans eager to interact with an icon of the skateboarding world.
'I am surprised any time I get recognized, especially in foreign countries that are not very skate centric. It's always a shock because I never got into skateboarding to be famous; no one was famous in skateboarding, in fact it was the furthest thing from fame you could do when I started.
'All these interactions I just think are entertaining, because I get recognized but people don't expect me to have gotten older since they last saw me, which is usually from a video game, so they're like, 'it looks that guy, but he can't be that old.' And that's fine with me.'
Having been at the forefront of an industry that accelerated from a niche activity to a global sport, Hawk has seen significant parallels between gaming and skateboarding. He believes esports will only get bigger, providing people around the world who have a passion for gaming with the opportunity to pursue impactful careers in the industry.
'I see a lot of parallels between skateboarding and gaming,' he said. 'Especially in the early days, you did it because you loved it. It was the furthest thing from cool, there was no future, there was no career,' Tony says. 'Mostly you were told you shouldn't be doing that. Especially by adults and especially when you become an adult.
'Gaming is the same. When playing games as a kid I'm sure parents thought you spent too much time doing it, [that] it's not productive, it's eating into your homework or your social life. Now it's a huge industry and you can become a professional, the same as skateboarding.
'I feel the people who were there in the earlier days understand it on a deeper level because they were chastised for it. These days if someone gets into skating or gaming, they know that they could make a living out of it, without question, and their parents might even encourage it. That's kind of wild to me. No parents were really encouraging skateboarding in my day.'
With the gaming and esports industry thriving around the world alongside the growth of streaming and social media, pathways into the gaming and esports industry have been established, creating opportunities for young people to forge careers in the industry they love.
What seemed impossible a few years ago is becoming a reality; the gaming industry continues to grow and with it comes the opportunity for those with the ability, dedication and creative spark to become professionals within the industry.
'My parents were the rare exception, that they were supportive of my skating, but they didn't think it was going to be a career either,' said Hawk. 'They wanted me to go to college. I was a professional skateboarder, I was buying a house in my senior year of high school, and they wanted me to enroll in college. So they didn't believe it was going to be my future either.
'Kids who aspire to game for a living have a chance now, and their parents may be supportive of that decision. I don't know if it's going to happen every time, but it's kind of like skateboarding in that way too. There are so many ways to do it. You can be a streamer, you can have your own niche, you can have your own brand or personality and with skateboarding it's the same. You don't have to compete. If you're making good content and you're putting it out there and you're innovative, you can still thrive at it.'
On release the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series became one of the most popular video game franchises of all time, defining a generation and accelerating the growth of skateboarding and gaming culture across the world.
More than 20 years later, the re-release of the original titles and updates to the franchise continue to capture the imaginations of gamers across the world, connecting them to the nostalgia of the originals, while updating them to engage with a new generation of gamers.
'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 just came out, and it's a remake of our third and fourth games from over 20 years ago,' said Hawk.
'I think the reason that we even get to do those now is that there is a very deep nostalgia for these games. For people, I think it defines a time in their lives where they formed their taste in music, where they learned about something other than mainstream sports, skateboarding specifically, but also other fringe sports and alternative, action sports. I hear a lot of people say that it was their best days playing that game, or it's the reason I failed college, and either one I take as a compliment.'
He added: 'I think what set Tony Hawk's Pro Skater apart in the early days was that it was authentic. It represented skateboarding in all its forms, the culture, the music, the fashion, the skaters, the tricks and the renegade attitude, hopping fences and everything. To bring it [back in] 2025 we had to update it in all respects. I wanted to reflect how skateboarding is now, how much more inclusive it is, how much more international it is, and I think we did that well. We chose some new skaters, brought back most of the iconic legends, and we even brought in three new levels, so I do feel we've entered a new era.'