Video game company Electronic Arts opened up Friday rather well, immediately topping the list of the day’s best-performing components of the Nasdaq 100 index after trading for 8.2% higher than yesterday. EA has an overall year to date gain of 15.3%.
EA got caught in a huge controversy last year after several players complained of their payment schemes regarding its in-game loot boxes. Loot boxes allowed players to gain new but random in-game items, for a price. These loot boxes were present in plenty of EA’s games, such as FIFA and Star Wars Battlefront.
Unfortunately for the publisher, many players called them out for promoting gambling, as the loot boxes never really provided any assurances that the player would be getting what they paid for. Some countries like Belgium even outright banned the loot box practices to prevent further complaints (not that that stopped EA from continuing to implement loot boxes).
Two of the other components that are making moves today are game company Hasbro (HAS), down by 3.8% after Toys R Us store closures, and travel booking company Expedia Group (EXPE), up by 4.1% on the day.
