John-ShepardEA has turned to the likes of Battlefield and Medal of Honor to chip away at Activision's huge lead in the shooter category.
Unfortunately, after Medal of Honor: Warfighter flopped with the critics, analyst Michael Pachter says blockbuster franchise Call of Duty doesn't really have to worry about being trumped any time soon.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz , Pachter said that such missteps "should not be taken lightly" and cited EA's drive to take FPS market share away from competitor Activision. And now, the Medal of Honor series could be in trouble:
"Warfighter's review scores may have destroyed chances for sequels in the all-important first-person shooter segment of the market…We think that low review scores will impair EA's (and the Medal of Honor brand's) reputation with those who pre-ordered the game or bought it as soon as it was released (likely some of EA's most dedicated customers), and believe EA alienated at least a small portion of these gamers.
Given the impairment to the Medal of Honor brand, we think EA is unlikely to take Activision's mantle as the leading developer of first-person shooters for several years."
Perhaps EA could take solace in the idea that Call of Duty: Black Ops II will also fail to impress critics. …but that might not do any good, as it may not have much of an effect on overall sales. When something gets that mainstream, review scores start to lose their importance.
Related Game(s): Medal of Honor: Warfighter
This is sad. I was interested in this because I like Frostbite 2. But it looks like it'll be a bargain binner for me.
Seriously, I played the beta and I liked it! Was going to buy it but…
Then buy it… If you're on the fence wait tol the price drops a little, or take advantage of Targets buy 2 get 1, but I Rex omens trying it. It's good!
I hope that EA marches ahead with the MOH franchise, at least it's more realistic by using real Tier 1 operators as consultants.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 10/31/2012 10:59:10 PM
This is what I was saying a week ago, it's a pretty large misstep while trying to build upon a CoD challenger. I don't think they can count on lower scores for Blops 2 because no matter how it turns out it will score well.
I'm just hoping this FPS freakout relaxes in the next generation so other stuff can do better.
This generation shall be remembered as the FPS era.
Let the sales do the talking. If it sells well, which it more than likely will, EA will continue it and hopefully the low review scores reflect on the next one's quality. As I said before though, I think a 7 or so fits the game. Not a 4. A 4 is a for a game like Naughty Bear..
I think this is a right shame, as I really enjoyed MoH:Warfighter. I enjoy both it's SP and its online more than the far more highly rated (yet, other than Spec Ops, incredibly similar in many ways) MW3. I honestly don't know why it scored so low – I've been playing FPS' games since Wolfenstein 3D, and have played a heap, and I'd give it 8.5/10. I'm not sure what's going on – my only guess is that they did such a good job working with actual military consultants that most of the authenticity went right over Civvies' heads, confusing rather than informing them. There were, of course, gameplay glitches and the AI was only CoD-worthy, rather than Killzone or Uncharted material, but it scored a whole lot less than CoD did.
god this guys a moron!
EA are not going to can MoH, they NEED it!
just because one game got poor reviews does not mean thats it the studio is getting shut down and the publisher is never going to look to the series again.
i have to question if this really hurt EA as well.
i mean its not like they always put out awesome games, so fans are going to be expecting a hit or a miss every time they line up.
only thing this will do is hopefully caution EA on their current rushing games to release.
every game they have released this year, and BF3, have felt really rushed and unfinished.
hopefully this will be the wakeup call they need, and will start putting more resources into their titles, and if need be delay them!
nothing worse than having a awesome game spoiled by being rushed and feeling unfinished.
cough BF3, ME3, NFS the run, NFS most wanted, MoH 2010 reboot, MoH warfighter, and so on.
and ill bet my chocolate hat that dead space 3, and army of two the cartel will end up exactly the same.
hopefully not crysis 3, but that wont be simply because crytek are not owned by EA so they have less power over them.
funny how EA partners games always turn out so awesome, and EA games feel really rushed……
Well, MoH received only decent reviews and now Warfighter is receiving bad reviews, not saying this guy is right but the MoH name has been splattered with dirt now.
Well________! I will say that you are probably correct about the franchise being dead. As far as Dead Space 3, I think it will rock. As far as Army of two, not so much. BF3 is the best shooter out there in my opinion.
See I think BF3 is good but not great. In my opinion MoH is the better game, definitelely better SP campaign! The mp isn't quite as ambitious with the lack of vehicles, but it's tighter, and the goals are easier to achieve making them more prominent. Easier to achieve because it's smaller maps.
It may have got bad reviews, but I bought it and loved it. Sales is whats important.
EA needs to try something new and unique in the FPS genre (harder said than done) but that is the only way i believe they can take down the current king. If they keep copying their competitors' games they will need to be at least as good to even compete whereas if they venture into uncharted territory they can take more risks without as many consequences.
It's a good point, and they are. Crysis is a good example. BF and MoH are militarytypw FPS, they are what they are and that formula is a main stay. But MoH is getting hammered for it while others are not.
Anyways so their is some diversiveness out there, and it really isn't doing anything to slow CoD down. People enjoy that formula.
The copy I had was not even playable it crashed so often that I just gave up. I won't make the same mistake twice bye bye MOH. Thanks EA for ruining another franchise.
Pity was hoping to get this one to get my fix-o-war… But now that is out the window… Guess I have no choice now other than COD.