So the new Medal of Honor game launches in less than two weeks, and unless you’re a tremendously big MoH fan, you might not have realized that. It’s this lack of market permeation that has led at least one analyst to declare EA’s latest shooter a runner-up in the pageant of “Best Military Shooter” before the votes are even cast.
“We are increasingly concerned about the prospects for Medal of Honor,” says Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell. “The game is not developing the level of buzz necessary to knock Call of Duty off its perch.” Mitchell’s biggest concern is that EA has chosen an “ill-timed” launch for the title, placing it smack in the middle of the release of Halo: Reach in September and Call of Duty: Black Ops in November. Asking the average consumer to buy three games in three months is pushing it, and it may well end up being only the most devoted MoH fans who opt for this franchise over the others.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the little bit of buzz Medal of Honor has received hasn’t been particularly positive. The game took some fire for allowing players to assume the role of the Taliban and shoot American soldiers, going so far as to garner a Fox News segment on the issue. While some might say all publicity is good publicity, that’s not necessarily the case when such pub gets your game pulled from military retailers.
All this isn’t to say the game won’t be successful, it’s just that Medal of Honor may not turn out to be the world-beater EA was hoping for when it decided to revive the series. The game will likely sell a substantial number of copies and spend a good deal of time on the Xbox Live charts, but it’s unlikely to knock the top titles off their mountaintops anytime soon.
Popularity: unranked [?]
