Latest news with #licenses
Top Gear
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
You've got less than a month to buy Project CARS 3 before it's delisted forever
Gaming Another racing game bites the digital dust, thanks to expiring licenses Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Welcome to the year 2025, when the 30-year old PlayStation 1 games you relentlessly lobbied your parents to buy you for Christmas sit intact and playable in the attic, but the digital releases you bought yourself five years ago are prone to being shut down and delisted at a moment's notice. Today's case in point: the unfortunate Project CARS 3 . The game's Steam, PlayStation and Xbox store pages were all updated this week with some bad news: it's being taken down at the end of August. Here's the official wording, via the Project CARS 3 Steam page. Advertisement - Page continues below "Update on PROJECT CARS 3. All product sales will end on: August 24th, 2025 23:59 UTC. Please note that times may vary by region. If you bought the game digitally it will remain in your library and can be redownloaded in the future. Any DLCs purchased before August 24th, 2025 23:59 UTC will still be available to use after this date. The game's online modes will also remain active until February 24th, 2026." This isn't an isolated incident, as you may have noticed. In 2022 its predecessors, Project CARS 1 and 2 were both removed from storefronts too, much to our chagrin. You might like The reason? It's all about licenses. Titles like these carry the official vehicle and track licenses from manufacturers and circuits for a limited time only, and when those licenses expire they're not legally allowed to use them in a commercial product anymore. So, the publisher pulls the plug on them. It also costs money to keep online services running. Multiplayer servers, leaderboards, along with UGC content like car liveries and tuning setups, all require ongoing server usage. That puts publishers and studios in an invidious position, because for most games the active user numbers dwindle over time to just a devoted few. These are the community diehards who'll shout the loudest when their favourite game is abruptly taken down, or when functionality like online play is removed. Advertisement - Page continues below All of this means you have less than a month to add Project CARS 3 to your game library, or forever hold your peace. You'll then have a year and a half to enjoy online racing before it becomes an offline-only experience. In truth, this isn't the bitterest blow racing fans have faced, because Project CARS 3 was some way short of a classic. During a time of tumult for developer Slightly Mad Studios in which it was acquired by F1 developer Codemasters, who were subsequently acquired by EA themselves shortly after, the 2020 third instalment to what had previously been a realism-first racing experience went all sim-cade. The handling model took an abrupt left-turn into much more forgiving and accessible territory. The structure of its career mode seemed to be copying Race Driver: GRID 's homework. In short, it felt a lot like Codemasters' own GRID games, which was very confusing. And to the Project CARS devotees, more than a bit disappointing. But let's not focus on that, when the poor game's on its way out. Let's instead mention that you can pick it up for posterity for a mere, ahem, £49.99, before it's returned to the primordial digital ooze where games go when they die. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Venezuela oil company PDVSA readies return to work under previous US terms
July 25 (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is getting ready to resume work at its joint ventures under terms similar to Biden-era licenses, once U.S. President Donald Trump reinstates authorizations for its partners to operate and export oil under swaps, company sources said. Washington is preparing new authorizations for key PDVSA partners, starting with U.S. major Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab, to operate in the sanctioned nation. The permits are expected to mark a policy shift from a pressure strategy Washington adopted this year that led to oil license cancellations in March. The authorizations might not be made public this time, but Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, late on Thursday, hailed political work to keep Chevron in the country and said the company was involved in working groups to expand operations again. Since the U.S. first imposed energy sanctions in 2019, Venezuela has seen licenses come and go as part of political negotiations with different U.S. administrations. The OPEC country has stabilized production at around 1 million barrels per day in recent years, with exports mostly going to independent Chinese refiners. A separate secondary tariff announced by Washington this year on buyers of Venezuelan oil has not been enforced. If the licenses are granted again under terms allowing PDVSA's partners to contribute to procurement and contract payments, while importing and exporting oil through swaps, Venezuela could secure a much-needed revenue source. The authorizations would come after a prisoner swap between Venezuela and the U.S. this month. The U.S. State Department has said no money from Venezuelan exports will reach Maduro's coffers, but it remains unclear how that prohibition could be enforced. Historically, PDVSA has not allowed its partners' cargoes to depart without receiving mandatory royalties and tax payments. "The situation is not going to be different this time," a company source said, referring to PDVSA's preparations. PDVSA and Venezuela's Oil Ministry did not reply to requests for comment. Chevron said it conducts its business globally in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including the U.S. sanctions framework. PDVSA's previous arrangement with Chevron involved a three-leg swap, with the U.S. firm supplying diluents to PDVSA and the state company delivering oil cargoes for Chevron to export to the U.S. to get debt and dividends repaid, one of the sources explained. The arrangement with European companies, including Italy's Eni ( opens new tab, Spain's Repsol ( opens new tab and France's Maurel & Prom ( opens new tab was slightly different. Since debt owed to those firms was lower, the swaps were almost completely oil-for-fuel exchanges with a minimum amount of debt repaid, the source added. PDVSA sees no other mechanism to resume oil exports to the U.S. and Europe under the U.S. sanctions, the sources said. In April, PDVSA canceled oil cargoes it had assigned to Chevron after the companies could not agree on a payment solution. Washington's new approach to energy sanctions on Venezuela has again divided the country's opposition, with some leaders celebrating Chevron's return to full operations and others warning it could benefit Maduro.
Bloomberg
7 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Ghana Initiates Process to Reduce Duration of Mining Leases
Ghana, Africa's biggest gold producer, is reviewing its mining laws to reduce the duration of licenses it grants. The West African nation wants to 'ensure equity, sustainability and shared prosperity for all stakeholders, especially for communities which bear the direct brunt of the mining activities,' Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, minister for lands and natural resources, said in a speech at the presidency on Wednesday.
Argaam
7 days ago
- Business
- Argaam
WSM inks contract with SDB to provide licenses, programs
WSM for Information Technology Co. signed, on July 23, a three-year contract with the Social Development Bank (SDB)to provide licenses and basic programs, according to a statement to Tadawul. The contract is valued at 8.7% of the company's total revenues for 2024. The relevant financial impact will appear during H2 2025. The contract included no related parties, the statement added. WSM reported SAR 29.02 million in revenue in 2024, with an 8.7% of revenue at SAR 2.5 million.
Crypto Insight
21-07-2025
- Business
- Crypto Insight
US bank lobby challenges crypto firms' bids for bank licences
US banking groups have urged the country's banking watchdog to postpone its decision on crypto companies' bank licenses until more details about their plans are public, claiming that allowing the bids would be 'a fundamental departure' from current policy. The American Bankers Association and other bank and credit union trade groups said in a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Thursday that its approval of national bank charters for the likes of stablecoin issuers Circle Internet Group and Ripple Labs 'would raise significant policy and process concerns.' 'There are significant policy and legal questions as to whether the Applicants' proposed business plans involve the types of fiduciary activities performed by national trust banks,' the groups argued. Circle, Ripple and Fidelity Digital Assets are among a recent group of crypto-focused firms that have applied for banking licenses with the OCC, which would essentially allow them to be their own bank, settle payments faster and be regulated at a federal level, allowing them to operate in every state. Banks want a pause on greenlighting charters for crypto The groups have asked the OCC to postpone its decision on the crypto firms' charter bids, claiming that the public portions of their applications 'do not provide sufficient information for the public to assess or provide meaningful comment on the Applicants' proposed business models and operations.' They added that the public should also be able to scrutinize the OCC if it allows the applications, adding it would be a departure from long-standing policy as the business models put forward by the crypto companies 'do not involve the types of fiduciary activities historically performed by national trust charter banks.' 'Providing custodial services for digital assets is not a fiduciary activity, and granting charters where traditional fiduciary activity is absent — or, is secondary at best — would represent a significant change in OCC policy that should be made only pursuant to a proper public notice and comment period,' the groups wrote. They said if the crypto firms are allowed to be national trust banks that provide 'traditional banking services like payments,' then other companies could follow, which the groups said would present a 'material risk to the US banking and financial system.' 'Interesting reaction' by banking groups Caitlin Long, the founder of crypto-focused bank Custodia Bank, posted to X on Saturday that the group's issue on whether trust charters can be used as 'de facto bank charters' with just a fraction of the capital requirements is 'very likely to be litigated.' 'Interesting reaction by the bank trade associations to fight,' she added. 'If what they fear will happen ends up happening, then why wouldn't banks just convert to trust companies and keep their existing businesses at a small fraction of the capital requirements and regulations?' Venture firm Paradigm's government affairs head, Alexander Grieve, said in response to the letter that 'banks and credit unions rarely agree on anything. But they seem to agree that they're finally about to have some competition from crypto.' Expect more crypto firms wanting bank charters Logan Payne, a crypto-focused lawyer at Winston & Strawn, recently told Cointelegraph that the newly passed stablecoin laws under the GENIUS Act create an incentive for stablecoin issuers to seek a banking license. A new stablecoin license under the laws would limit a crypto firm's activity to only issuing stablecoin, but Payne said that 'pretty much every stablecoin issuer in the United States issuing under US law right now engages in activities outside the scope of that license.' He said a stablecoin issuer would need state-level money transmission licenses to operate nationally, even with the new GENIUS Act license, creating an incentive for stablecoin issuers to apply for a national trust bank charter with the OCC. Payne said the charter 'allows for them to engage in stablecoin issuance plus a wider range of activities, but without having to get state-to-state licenses.' Source:
