The skateboarding industry, much like the video game industry, is a massive web of marketing, of community, and of money — all with a deep well of young men and women’s aspirations fueling it along. They’re both massively popular industries now – the International Olympics Committee has finally acknowledged skateboarding’s cultural relevance – but it’s funny to think that, less than a decade apart, both experienced massive turmoil. The great video game crash of 1983, and the early ‘90s crackdown on street skating threatened their lifeblood..
But together, both worlds came together to make something incredible. It helped turn Tony Hawk, a once-down-on-his-luck pro skater, into a living legend, and it turned Neversoft, a humble game studio full of rowdy, young developers, into a household name among gamers. 20 years ago this August, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater established a legacy that lives on to this day.
Source: IGN.com Tony Hawk and Neversoft Talk How Pro Skater Changed Their Lives