Skateboarder Tony Hawk performs a trick as his position as an envoy for shoe firm Vans.
Vans
STOCKHOLM — Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk as soon as turned down half one million {dollars} in future royalties from the favored online game Professional Skater — and he says it was the “greatest monetary determination” of his life.
Hawk was provided $500,000 in a one-time buyout deal to be used of his title and likeness for Activision’s Professional Skater title, which was launched in 1999.
Talking on the Techarena expertise convention in Stockholm on Thursday, Hawk stated that, when he obtained the proposal, it “did not look like an actual quantity to me.”
He in the end determined to show it down, citing success in each his private {and professional} life as giving him the enhance to take the danger and bat away the bid.
“I had a household, I had simply purchased a brand new home, and I felt like I might afford the mortgage. And I believed, I am doing fairly properly in my life outdoors this online game venture,” Hawk stated.
“And so I believed, I can afford to take an opportunity. And so, that was the fortunate timing of it, so I turned it down. That was completely one of the best monetary determination of my life,” he added.
Hawk as a substitute negotiated a royalty association below which he would obtain a lower for each copy offered.
“That was a a lot better deal,” Hawk stated, including: “It is in all probability one of many the explanation why I am right here immediately.”
Proper after Hawk turned down the verify, Activision talked about a sequel to the sport — that means Hawk’s earnings would proceed.
The licensing settlement between Hawk and Activision, which is now owned by tech big Microsoft, ran for 16 years till 2015.
In the end, it paid off: the Professional Skater franchise has gone on to generate greater than $1.4 billion in gross sales since its launch, skyrocketing Hawk’s profession.
The athlete has been skateboarding for the reason that Nineteen Seventies and was extensively considered one of the best skateboarder on this planet by the age of 16.
However it wasn’t till the publication of his online game that he grew to become severely well-known. Right this moment, his title is virtually synonymous with skateboarding and the tradition that surrounds it.
He invented quite a few skateboarding methods, together with the Madonna, the rodeo flip, the airwalk, the Kickflip McTwist, the 720, the door-opening, and the internationally televised 900.
WATCH: Tony Hawk on making skateboarding a ‘real profession’ on the age of 16
