September seventeenth, EA hosted its annual Investor Day event. Here the company shows the way forward for what it’s working on, discusses the way it plans to expand its franchises and tries to persuade the many individuals with money that they’re profitable and price further investment.

You could have missed it, because it doesn’t offer the level of pleasure of E3. But some things were announced, each at the event and as a part of the media blitz outside of Investor Day. So here’s all the essential news you may be excited by.

not happening, but the franchise doesn’t end

It could seem strange, but EA has no plans to create one anytime soon. Kate Gorman, EA’s vp and general manager of it has been said to be ushering in a “new era” for the franchiseand doesn’t want to interchange old games with latest ones, forcing players to restart the game.

“We don’t want to reset your progress. So it’s not so much about the numbers in the games, but know that the future of the franchise looks more like maintaining progress, maintaining things across titles and really having a continuous experience, rather than a stop-start experience between products,” Gorman said.

EA will proceed to update and improve while also releasing other related games, including previously announced ones what isn’t but as a substitute something more focused on multiplayer. The goal, it seems, is to stop replacing games with latest games and support things longer.

“We’re not going to be working on replacements for previous projects; we’re just going to be adding to our universe,” Gorman said. “What you’ll see is that there are more ways to experience s on different platforms, different ways to play, transmedia, a lot of great offerings in that universe.”

the film is being shot and Margot Robbie is in it

Meanwhile, EA also confirmed that a movie is in the works. The game publisher is partnering with Amazon MGM and star Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap. The film might be directed and co-written by season one director Kate Herron.

EA says it’s “very excited” about the film, but doesn’t have much to say about it yet. “It’s too early to talk more about the film, but stay tuned for updates as we celebrate our 25th anniversary next year!”

in energetic development and is the end of the series

The next installment of the award-winning Respawn and Lucasfilm series is currently in development, in line with EA during today’s Investor event. This may also be the end of the trilogy and series.

“More than 40 million fans have connected with Cal Kestis and his story of his journey to become a powerful Jedi,” said Laura Miele, president of EA Entertainment and Technology, during the event.

And that story will proceed in the third game, which Miele confirmed is in energetic development. “Respawn is working hard to deliver the final chapter of this exciting story to players,” Miele said.

EA didn’t provide any details about the next game during the event.

Previously, and director Stig Asmussen said that he all the time envisioned these games “as a trilogy” and that the team had plans for what would occur after them 2023 Asmussen left Respawn in September 2023 and won’t be involved in the work on the third a part of the trilogy.

We learned so much about the next essential match

Ahead of Investor Day, Respawn CEO and EA Studios Group CEO Vince Zampella I talked to about the future. And the bottom line is: Did you prefer it? Well, they’re doing it again.

“I mean, if you look back to the peak or the pinnacle, it’s that … era where everything was modern,” Zampella said. “And I think we need to get back to the essence of what it is and do it amazingly well, and then we’ll see what comes of it.”

Zampella confirmed that the next game will cast off specialists and return to the classic class-based system present in older FPS games.

When can players expect the next installment? EA is not saying. Zampella hinted at a community testing program next 12 months, but didn’t reveal a release window for the full game. It seems EA is in no rush to release one other game after reception below expectations. You can read more about this game here.

The reboot will begin in 2025

The Internet Can Finally Stop Asking EA for a Release Date, Publisher Confirms September seventeenth that the reboot will finally arrive in 2025 as a part of Early Access.

The publisher didn’t have much else to say about the latest entry in the beloved skateboarding series, but that’s okay. I’m excited to be back next 12 months. I can’t wait to crash 200 times attempting to land that one perfect kickflip over the stairs. Read more about the news here.

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This is a post I’ve known about for some time, but that doesn’t make it any easier to write down. After over 16 years, TouchArcade will probably be closing its doors and going out of business. There could also be an extra post here and there in the approaching weeks as we attempt to honor any previously agreed-upon commitments and in addition prepare a correct farewell post, but for now, our normal day-to-day operations have ceased. The reason we’re closing is probably not surprising: Money.

Many of you who’ve been following TouchArcade for some time are well aware that we have now struggled financially for a few years, and truthfully, I believe it is a miracle that we have now managed to survive this long. The truth is that a web site like ours simply doesn’t earn cash anymore. To our own detriment, we have now resisted things like obnoxious, intrusive ads, blatant clickbait headlines, or ethically questionable sponsorships, that are unfortunately the varieties of things that also earn cash on the web today.

There are many other reasons which have contributed to us getting thus far, but I’d slightly not go into details now. TouchArcade has been an establishment for hundreds of thousands of individuals for the past 16 years, and I’ve been working full time for the past 14+ years. A solid third of my life. In some ways, it’s like one in every of my children, and it’s totally hard to say goodbye to it. I’d really slightly concentrate on all the good times we have had, than dwell on the things we won’t change.

Also, as a person with a wife and two young children, a mortgage and all that adult fun, this is the tip of my life, and though they’re technically “freelancers”, so are the opposite two individuals who were at the guts of TouchArcade, Shaun Musgrave and Mikhail Madnani. Which brings me to my next point…

HIRE US!

The job market isn’t great anywhere, and finding a brand new job is tough, especially within the gaming industry. If you’re reading this and wish some very capable gaming industry veterans like us, please reach out to us.

Jared Nelson – That’s me! Of course, I actually have over 14 years of experience working in the course of the mobile gaming boom at TouchArcade. Writing, editing, managing staff, traveling to conventions. I’ve done all of it. I even have a fairly diverse work history prior to TouchArcade, including management positions, which I believe gives me a very well-rounded skill set. You can reach me at LinkedIn or via email at jared (at) toucharcade (dot) com.

Shaun Musgrave – Shaun has been with TouchArcade for a bit over 11 years, but has been in skilled gaming media for over 25 years. He is by far one of the vital talented writers I actually have ever met, and if we would have liked a review of an enormous, necessary game and needed it on very tight deadlines, Shaun was all the time reliable. He also uses his vast, almost uncanny knowledge of video game history to search out interesting angles to write down about games that only he could find. Shaun lives in Japan and is fluent in each Japanese and English, which also makes him a terrific candidate for localization work. Contact him at muzkind (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Mikhail Madnani – As a member of TouchArcade for over 7 years, Mikhail is the workhorse of our team. Publishing most of what you see every day, our website wouldn’t have been capable of run for so long as it has without Mikhail’s contributions. An expert at sniffing out interesting news and publishing it in a timely manner, but in addition capable of create huge features like in-depth interviews and multiplatform reviews. His header images stuffed with coffee are also legendary. If you wish someone who can reliably and consistently publish video game related content, I can’t recommend Mikhail enough. Contact him at hello (at) failgunner (dot) com.

What will occur now?

If there’s a silver lining to all of this, it’s that for the foreseeable future, the entire content ever published on TouchArcade will remain online and accessible to everyone. Over 33,000 articles published, including over 4,000 game reviews, not to say all of our annual Best Of content and Game of the Year picks. Hopefully, all of this content will live to tell the tale in the longer term for reference and to easily look back on and see how drastically the mobile gaming landscape has modified over the past decade and a half.

We hope to proceed our podcast, The TouchArcade Show, which recently celebrated its 600th (!) episode. Just a few co-hosts have come and gone over the course of the podcast (shout out to Brand and Mike!), but Eli Hodapp and I actually have been a continuing presence on the show for the reason that starting, and it’s truthfully crazy that we’ve spent over 13 years of our lives putting out an hour-long podcast (almost) every week.

So it’s possible you’ll be wondering, our Patreon. Our Patreon support has been by far the biggest contributor to TouchArcade’s existence since we launched in June 2015, almost a decade ago. Our thoughts are to redirect Patreon donations to support the podcast, and possibly the occasional post or special feature written by the team here. Maybe a random “SwitchArcade” or a review of a very high-profile mobile game launch. Maybe we could even squeeze in a Game of the Year this yr? It’s only a germ of an idea for now, however it can be pretty cool to see TouchArcade live to tell the tale, even on this small way.

Regardless of how this ends, I will probably be clearly changing the wording of our Patreon to state that it is not about supporting the web site, and if people resolve to stop donating, that is completely comprehensible. If individuals are giving us money every month, I need to be completely transparent about where it is going. Either way, search for more news on this in the approaching weeks, and on the very least make sure that you follow us as a free member on our Patreon to stay awake thus far. If you may have any questions or concerns, you possibly can contact me at suggestions (at) toucharcade (dot) com or leave a comment below.

Well, I believe that is it. Speaking on behalf of all of us who’ve helped run TouchArcade over the past 16 years—from co-founders Arnold Kim and Blake Patterson to our first full-time worker and future editor-in-chief Eli Hodappa, and the handfuls of other writers and freelancers who’ve helped make TouchArcade what it is—we just wish to sincerely thanks for reading our site, listening to our podcast, or attending one in every of our events. It was an absolute pleasure to have such a beautiful audience that appreciated what we did, and we’ll all be without end grateful for the time we got to spend together.

Something strange happened within the run-up to Noche UFC, the second annual celebration of Mexican Independence Day. For the primary time since I got into MMA through the McGregor era and fell in love with the game through the pandemic, I skipped all my UFC fight week traditions. I didn’t watch a single episode , didn’t watch the press conference on Thursday or the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday. And I actually didn’t have my usual “one more sleep” nerves heading into Saturday. It’s clear to me now that my lack of enthusiasm was a product of uncertainty, which breeds reserve, not curiosity.

Almost all the pieces on Saturday night’s card had me and other fans scratching our heads, starting with its amalgamation of a reputation: UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche UFC. And then there was the promotion’s star. No, not the homegrown, hype-machine-produced Sean O’Malley, and even Mexico’s Alex Grasso, but quite The Sphere (or just “The Sphere,” as it was referred to throughout the printed). The Mexican-inspired Fight Night, which had by some means change into a numbered pay-per-view presented by a series of festivals in Saudi Arabia, boasting an arena as its important attraction, left me with questions that the sights and sounds of a typical fight week couldn’t answer. Instead, those questions were answered by the usual brilliance of probably the most production-oriented combat sports promotion this side of WWE.

When it was first reported, the most affordable seat in the home would cost over $2,000, I wondered if the more passionate Mexican and Mexican-American fight fans would not find the money for to accept the regular fighters with high salaries and company bank cards. Those fears were put to rest once I heard the group cheer for Raúl Rosas Jr. as he walked toward the octagon before the primary preliminary fight of the night. I did my best Irish accent and asked once I discovered that 4 fighters I’d never heard of were opening the important card. And lo and behold, these were the 2 most entertaining fights of the night, with Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber receiving Fight of the Night bonuses that would have just as easily gone to Ronaldo Rodriguez and Ode’ Osbourne. And, like Sean O’Malley he had an issue with himself At one point I noticed with interest that soon turned to ambivalence that the venue was being promoted greater than the then bantamweight champion at the highest of the bill. I don’t learn about him, but I understood why by the tip of the night, because the suspense surrounding what a sporting event at The Sphere might appear to be paid off greater than the one-sided thrashing most educated fans accurately predicted he would receive within the important event.

But greater than anything, the important query I had before last night was why did the UFC’s first and potentially only show at The Sphere happen on Mexican Independence Day? As Noche UFC approached, I assumed that perhaps an event featuring Conor McGregor or Jon Jones could be an even bigger popular culture spectacle, International Fight Week would result in easier branding, and UFC 300, which fans and pundits alike made a mistake of underestimatingwould allow for a deeper card. Again, the event itself convinced me of its merits in a way that no moment or press conference confrontation could have prepared me for.

No other alternative I had in mind, a more fitting Sphere card, would have produced the breathtaking story of Noche UFC. The six interludes, produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Carlos López Estrada of Antigravity Academy, made excellent use of The Sphere’s capabilities, transporting viewers through Mexican history with images that were awe-inspiring even on a television screen. Ancient civilizations, heroic freedom fighters, spiritual traditions, iconic combat athletes, and the virtues of Mexican culture were honored with Lucasian light and magic. Eight first- and second-generation Mexicana Octagon girls paraded between rounds in stunning costumes inspired by their shared heritage.

Despite the important event, the fights themselves matched the spectacle of the evening in a way that only high-level MMA drama can, especially when it’s done to honor the fighting spirit of a culture. Minutes after a brief film told the story of the indigenous warriors, the primary people to fight for the land now often called Mexico, Mexican flyweight Ronaldo Rodriguez escaped two near-death submissions to carry out for a unanimous decision over Ode’ Osbourne. Right after that, Mexico City native Daniel Zellhuber fought Argentine Esteban Ribovics in a mad, button-mashing frenzy, losing on the cards but gaining fans like me who were watching him fight for the primary time. And despite a lackluster performance from former women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, I used to be on the sting of my seat, seemingly once per round, attempting to get Valentina Shevchenko to tap.

Much just like the 300 events that preceded them, UFC 306 has images which might be perpetually etched in my memory; exciting moments that I might have never predicted based on the names on the cardboard and the hype that preceded it.

I do not know if Noche UFC turned out to be “the greatest sporting event of all time,” as UFC CEO Dana White said promised in July. During his post-fight press availability, White admitted that it could be as much as the audience to choose whether the evening lived as much as those expectations. I’m generally a bit of allergic to creating such grandiose statements. But I’ll admit that Noche UFC was probably the most impressively produced televised sporting event I’ve ever seen—higher than any Super Bowl, NBA Finals, or WrestleMania I’ve ever watched.

It was a spectacle I couldn’t quite persuade myself to expect, but one I’ll always remember. If you’re still with me, scroll or click through the photos below to see what made the night so memorable.