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.
STEM education in the U.S. is falling behind and 2.4 million STEM-related jobs are expected to go unfilled this year.
Ray Kerins, SVP, Corporate Affairs at Bayer, and Jackie
Joyner-Kersee, Olympic gold medalist, joined Cheddar to discuss the launch of Bayer's new Amazon Alexa skill integration.
Cargo is essentially an in-car vending machine ー a box containing snacks and personal items for purchase installed on the center console of some Uber and Lyft vehicles. According to CEO Jeff Cripe, since so many riders were dividing their Uber and Lyft fares with Venmo, it made sense to make Venmo the payment option for their in-car purchases. Now, Venmo-happy millennials can purchase Cargo items through the app during their rides.
2019 is set to be a blockbuster year for tech IPOs. In preparation for the new year and all the public debuts it will bring, we're counting down the most likely and buzz-worthy candidates.
In five to seven years, Tesla will be valued as a diversified "technology titan" rather than just as an automaker, Wedbush's Dan Ives told Cheddar on Monday. Wedbush rated Tesla "outperform" and raised its 12-month price target on the company to $440 last week. Tesla shares jumped Thursday following the report.
Colin Kroll, the founder of HQ Trivia and Vine, was found dead in his New York City apartment on Sunday of a suspected drug overdose. He was 34. Kroll's HQ Trivia was called the future of mobile gaming, the future of game shows, even the future of TV. Before his death, there seemed nowhere to go but up.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether foreigners illegally funneled money to President Trump's inaugural committee to buy influence over American policy. Bomb threats emailed to multiple locations across the country deemed non-credible by the FBI. For the first time ever, the number of streaming shows has surpassed the number of basic cable and broadcast shows. From now until December 31st, users of the dating app Hinge can get a buy-one, get-one free meal at Chipotle to enjoy with their date.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Under pressures from a slowing demand and the U.S.-China trade war, GoPro is doubling down on its core audience and engaging its existing customer base with contests and rewards.
If you thought artificial intelligence took major strides in 2018, buckle up; 2019 may well be an even bigger year for the industry. What are insiders watching ー and what will make the biggest entrance in 2019? Cheddar's Crystal Ball has generated a prediction: Open source A.I., which allows information to be shared freely across many platforms.
As Cheddar reflects on 2018, we are profiling the most innovative, flamboyant, and often-controversial entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who delivered the year's most memorable moments in business. Cheddar's Biggest Loser Award Goes to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg.
