When you think of Starfield, the upcoming spacefaring epic from Bethesda Game Studios, what’s the first thing you associate it with? Yep, you nailed it, skateboarding. The indelible link between Starfield’s hotly-anticipated release and the noble art of absolutely shredding it up is so obvious I don’t even need to detail it here, and it’s doubtless why you can now buy a “Starfield Aerial Skate Deck” on official Bethesda merch store for the low, low price of $75.
Okay, I’ll level with you. I have no idea why this thing exists and—following on from stunts like the Diablo 4 pop-up chocolate shop—I’m beginning to suspect that the world’s videogame marketing departments have just gone rogue. Are they just using their positions to sate their most absurd and transient whims? Probably.
I’m fairly certain someone in Bethesda’s offices just thought it would be sick as hell to own a Starfield-patterned skate deck and figured they could get one for free if they could contort it into part of the game’s marketing push. It gets schmucks like me writing about it too, so you know, win/win.
Frankly, good for them. Setting aside for one moment that we are all collectively undergoing the tragedy of not living in the universe where “Tony Hawk’s Pro Starfield” exists, meaning that this skate deck has no obvious link to Starfield as a videogame, it does look quite pretty. Its underside features the pleasantly minimalist Starfield Iogo above the rainbow stripes of the game’s constellation faction. You might recognise the design from that Starfield Xbox controller that recently got released.
I could imagine sticking this thing on my wall if I thought my landlady would let me get away with it (she has a lot of haunted Victorian child paintings up, they’re very cool and I am 100% forbidden from taking them down).
If you so choose, you can even affix some trucks and wheels to it and go on your own, decidedly terrestrial adventure. It doesn’t come with any, though, so you’ll have to buy them yourself.