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The Electronic Entertainment Expo hasn’t been held in person since 2019. Now, it may not be returning for 2024 or 2025 — at least not at the Los Angeles Convention Center. According to an LA City Tourism Commission planning document shared on ResetEra, the video game trade show has canceled its live event for the next two years. The document’s Convention Sales data specifically notes that its data “includes E3 cancellations for 2024 & 2025.”

Although the city document suggests that E3 2024 won’t be hosted at the LA Convention Center, the Electronic Software Association itself seems hesitant to confirm the entire event is canceled. “ESA is currently in conversation with ESA members and other stakeholders about E3 2024 (and beyond),” the group told Engadget. “No final decisions about the events have been made at this time.” 

It’s unclear what this means for E3 itself. Although the Electronic Software Association hasn’t hosted a live trade since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of E3 2020, the group did put together a digital only event in 2021. Neither the in-person or digital versions of the show returned in 2022.

When the show was canceled again in 2023, ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis told GamesIndustry that the trade show may need to change to survive. “E3 will iterate to ensure it’s meeting the needs of companies that want to market on this global platform.” Pierre-Louis said. “That means it will iterate in how people engage with E3. We want to meet the needs of players who view this as an important platform and that’s going to evolve over time.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/e3-2024-and-2025-arent-canceled-yet-222141813.html?src=rss 

At the start of the month, Facebook’s parent company Meta announced via blog post its intent to remove availability of all news content from FB and Instagram in Canada, should the government pass its proposed Online News Act. On Thursday, Canadian Parliament did just that and, within hours, Meta confirmed it will make good on its threat.

“Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect,” the company posted. “We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, passed today in Parliament, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada.”

The Online News Act is designed to address the precipitous drop in advertising revenue Canadian news organizations have experienced over the past two decades. It does so by requiring big tech companies like Google and Meta to negotiate reimbursement plans with those outlets for running said stories on their respective platforms.

Earlier in June, Meta announced that it was working to develop a software-based solution to its C-18 issue. As of Thursday, those efforts remain ongoing “and currently impact a small percentage of users in Canada.” Aside from the loss of news functionality, Meta assures its users that no other aspects of the Facebook experience will be impacted.

This isn’t the first time that Meta has picked up its toys and gone home in response to attempted government oversight. In 2021, the company removed its news features from the Australian market after the country passed similar compensation legislation — even going so far as to prevent publishers from linking to their posts on the social media platform. That move negatively impacted the pages of multiple Australian government agencies as well as numerous nonprofit organizations from the region before being reversed.

“This legislation sets a precedent where the government decides who enters into these news content agreements, and ultimately, how much the party that already receives value from the free service gets paid,” William Easton, Facebook’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, wrote in a blog post at the time. “We will now prioritize investments to other countries, as part of our plans to invest in new licensing news programs and experiences.”  

Google, which would also be affected by the bill’s implementation, has not yet announced any plans to officially cut service in the nation. It did begin testing a means of blocking news access in Canada in February.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-pulls-news-content-from-canadian-facebook-and-instagram-204431447.html?src=rss 

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s purchase of ZeniMax was bound to affect cross-platform releases, but there are now hints gamers might be missing out on some major releases. Under questioning from a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer seeking an injunction against the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, Bethesda VP Pete Hines has revealed that Disney had a deal with ZeniMax to release MachineGames’ Indiana Jones title on multiple consoles. After Microsoft bought ZeniMax, however, the deal was amended to make it an Xbox console exclusive.

The FTC also believes Bethesda’s sci-fi epic Starfield was headed to the PlayStation 5 before the Microsoft buyout. Bloomberg previously reported that Bethesda axed the PlayStation version of Redfall, although that’s not as worrisome given the vampire shooter’s lousy reception.

Indiana Jones was made an exclusive due to the nature of the Disney license, Hines claims. Disney had a “ton of feedback” on the project that limited development time, and an Xbox exclusive would keep the game on track while providing a “degree of clarity,” the Bethesda executive says. Games like Starfield and Redfall are originals.

We’ve asked Bethesda for comment. In 2021, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said Microsoft’s control of ZeniMax would deliver “great exclusive games.” Some titles still in progress at the time, such as Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, were still headed to PlayStation due to contractual obligations.

The revelations won’t necessarily cement the FTC’s effort to block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, they don’t look good — they suggest that some players are losing out on high-profile games that were previously destined for their console of choice. Microsoft has promised to release Call of Duty on multiple platforms for years to come in a bid to secure regulatory approval, but that might not help if officials are still concerned about other exclusives.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-indiana-jones-game-became-an-xbox-exclusive-after-microsoft-bought-zenimax-210157957.html?src=rss