The biggest gaming event of the year, Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 2023, has been cancelled. Earlier, the event was set to return in June this year for an in-person event first time since 2019. But now, Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the organisation that organises the event every year has confirmed that the gaming event has been cancelled this year. Also Read – Nintendo showcases Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay, announces limited-edition Switch OLED

“ReedPop and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) have announced that both the digital ane physical events for E3 2023 are cancelled,” ESA said in a statement. Also Read – Ubisoft won’t be attending E3 2023, instead, it will host its own show

News on #E32023 from the source. pic.twitter.com/BK7TUlb8mZ Also Read – Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan expands to 6 more countries: All you need to know

— E3 (@E3) March 30, 2023

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According to an email sent to employees and verified by IGN, E3 2023 “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.”

Following IGN’s report, ReedPop issued a formal statement regarding the cancellation of the event.

“This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what’s right for the industry and what’s right for E3,” Kyle Marsden-Kish, global VP of gaming at ReedPop, was quoted as saying.

“We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn’t have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn’t overcome. For those who did commit to E3 2023, we’re sorry we can’t put on the showcase you deserve and that you’ve come to expect from ReedPop’s event experiences,” Marsden-Kish added.

E3 2023 was scheduled for June 13 through June 16.

Why was E3 2023 cancelled?

The announcement comes after several major gaming companies decided to pull off from the annual gaming expo. Back in January 2023, three major gaming players — Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Nintendo — decided to pull out from the event opting to host individual events instead. Nintendo recently hosted Nintendo Direct 2023, and shortly after, Microsoft announced that it will be hosting the Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 this year.

More recently, Ubisoft announced a change of plans that included the company pulling out of the E3 2023 to host the Ubisoft Forward Live event on June 12 instead. The company had earlier confirmed its presence at the event. Shortly after Ubisoft’s announcement, Tencent and Sega too shared their plans of skipping the event this year.

It is worth noting that while the gaming expo has been cancelled this year, it remains unclear if its future iterations of the event have also been cancelled.

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Sony has shared a list of all the games that will be available for free to PlayStation Plus subscribers in April 2023. These gaming titles will be available for free to PS5 and PS4 users who subscribe to PlayStation Plus’ Essential, Extra, and Deluxe or Premium tiers starting April 4. They will be available for players through May 1. Also Read – Sony PlayStation 5 offer announced in India: Limited-period discount on all PS5 variants

The gaming titles that will be available for free in the month of April on PlayStation Plus includes Tails of Iron, Meet your Maker and Sackboy: A big adventure. Also Read – Looking for premium headphones? Check out these options from Sony, Apple, other brands

PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for April are: Also Read – Sony WH-CH720N wireless headphones launched with 50 hours of battery life and ANC support

➕ Meet Your Maker
➕ Sackboy: A Big Adventure
➕ Tails of Iron

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Full details: https://t.co/TPu0ZeUUMk pic.twitter.com/tDJE3q0g5M

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 29, 2023

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Free PS Plus games in April 2023

Here are all the games that will be available on PS Plus for free in April:

Meet your Maker

This game will be available to both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 users. As Sony explains it, Meet Your Maker is a post-apocalyptic first-person building-and-raiding game where every level is designed by players. Players can Switch between roles ‘as they mastermind devious Outposts filled with traps and guards, then gear up for methodical fast-paced combat raiding other players’ creations, gaining an edge by choosing the right loadout (melee, ranged, defensive), perks, and consumables to match their challenge or playstyle’. Players can also team up in pairs of two.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

This game will also be available on both PS4 and PS5 gaming consoles. In this 3D multiplayer adventure game, players will be able to go solo in a race against time stuffed with danger and peril or enjoy local or online party play by creating teams of two to four adventurer.

Tails of Iron

Tails of Iron will be available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles. The game is a hand-drawn RPG adventure game with brutal combat, and it is set in a grim land plagued by war. In the game, players will play as Redgi, heir to the Rat Throne, and they will have to ‘restore your broken Kingdom by banishing the merciless Frog Clan and their ferocious leader, Greenwart’. “…You’ll need all the help you can get, whether that’s new meal recipes, blueprints to forge deadly weapons and armor, or even a land-chugging, armor-plated mole mobile,” Sony wrote in a blog post.

In addition to this, Sony said that PlayStation Plus members have until Monday, that is, April 3 to add Battlefield 2042, Minecraft Dungeons and Code Vein to their game library.

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Electronic Arts Inc. said on Wednesday it would lay off about 6% of its workforce and reduce office space, making it the first major videogame publisher to announce job cuts. Also Read – EA is shutting down three Battlefield games next month: Check details

Technology firms have led the latest round of layoffs as U.S. companies brace for a potential economic downturn amid rising interest rates around the world.

Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. announced a second round of job cuts this month. Tech layoffs hit 63,000 in the first two months of the year, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

EA, which had about 12,900 staff at the end of March last year, expects to incur between $170 million and $200 million in charges related to the restructuring.

“As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams,” CEO Andrew Wilson said in a blog post.

EA, behind the “FIFA” soccer videogame franchise and “The Sims”, will provide opportunities for employees to move to other projects and where that is not possible will provide severance pay and additional benefits, Wilson said.

Video game publishers are also struggling with a slowdown in player spending in the face of decades-high inflation, a change in fortunes from the meteoric growth witnessed during the pandemic.

Video game sales so far this year were flat and spending on video game content across platforms is down 2%, according to analytics firm Circana.

Electronic Arts lowered its annual bookings forecast in January after it delayed the release of a game based on the “Star Wars” franchise.

Newly launched “Hogwarts Legacy” game from Warner Bros Discovery topped the videogame sales charts in February, according to Circana.

— Reuters

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