Electronic Arts is in some trouble with its Star Wars fan base.
"Star Wars Battlefront 2," officially comes out on Friday, but many players are already upset over the expensive in-game transactions necessary to unlock certain characters. Tamoor Hussain, editor at GameSpot and Russell Holly, managing editor of VRHeads.com joined Cheddar to discuss the concept of paying extra within a game.
Hussain says that it used to take a significant number of hours to gain points in order to unlock certain characters, which upset players. So, companies began to add the option to buy the power to unlock them. But people are still upset. He says it could impact sales this week, but many people won't be looking into the issue too deeply.
Holly says in-game transactions are a tremendous business for Electronic Arts, which just bought Respawn Entertainment for over $400 million.
To ease some of the pressure, EA said that it will reducing the amount of resources it'll take to access key players in the upcoming game.
"They kind of changed the discoursed around the game," Hussain said, adding that this move will sway public opinion positively.
Ride-hailing service Lyft's annual loss more than doubled last year to over $2.6 billion, but the company claimed progress as revenue jumped 68 percent and ridership grew.
Geoffrey Colon and Aya Kikimova, Head of Brand Studio and Brand Studio at Microsoft Advertising, join Cheddar to discuss their new report that explores trends of the past and present that will impact the next decade.
__________________
Check out the report [here](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/january-2020/2020-vision-trends-to-define-the-next-decade).
Xenex Disinfection Services has offered to ship out its germ-killing robots free-of-charge. But first, the San Antonio-based company needs assurances that China will respect its intellectual property.
Cybereason's Chief Information Security Officer Israel Barak discussed with Cheddar about preparing for beyond the standard fears of hacking votes.
The exemption granted by the Department of Transportation allows the company to introduce its second-generation vehicle lacking a steering wheel, transparent windshield, mirrors, and gas and brake pedals.
COO Matt Bromberg discussed with Cheddar how more engaged players also mean more spending in an industry that relies on microtransactions within free-to-play games.
The auto giant's first chief sustainability officer, Dane Parker, says he sees electric vehicles overtaking combustion engine cars as overwhelmingly as cars overtook the horse and buggy.
Jeff Weiner will become executive chairman after 11 years as CEO of the Microsoft-owned business. Ryan Roslansky, senior vice president of product, will become CEO as of June 1.
Adjusted for one-time items, earnings came to $1.53 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.46. Revenue rose 36% to $20.9 billion. Wall Street expected revenue of $20.7 billion. Disney shares rose 1.2% in after-hours trading to $146.50.
Technology companies and banks led a broad rally for U.S. stocks in midday trading Tuesday following solid gains overseas. China took more steps to soften the financial blow of the virus outbreak and its main stock index rose following a plunge a day earlier.
