After developer Danger Close Games promised they would be imbuing the Medal of Honor franchise with an even larger dose of realism with Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the hope was that the game would exceed its predecessor in quality and sales. Moreover, publisher Electronic Arts made a major marketing push for the game, partnered with Linkin Park, and even released Osama Bin Laden-centric DLC all in the hope of generating a sizeable amount of buzz for their upcoming military shooter.
Alas, all that work has been for naught as EA is reporting sales numbers for Medal of Honor: Warfighter are less than expected. While EA wouldn't deliver specific numbers just yet, CEO John Riccitiello says they are "below [their] expectations."
Unfortunately, it's also hard to glean what exactly EA's expectations for Medal of Honor: Warfighter were. While hardcore shooter fans weren't nearly as excited for MOH as say Battlefield 3 or the next Call of Duty, that doesn't mean EA wasn't shooting for the stars.
EA's Frank Gibeau also added that the company isn't satisfied with the review scores the game has been receiving. At the moment the game is hovering in the mid-50s at Metacritic, which suggests a mediocre game, at best.
“We’re disappointed with the critical reception. Our internal testing and mock reviews indicated that the game is better than the actual score we have right now. We believe it is"
Pointing out why exactly reviews have been less than favorable isn't easy, but the presence of a massive day 1 patch, and holding review copies until launch suggested a lack of confidence in the finished (or un-finished depending on how you look at it) product. There's no denying Medal of Honor: Warfighter had something to offer single and multiplayer fans, but whether or not that was worth investing $60 in is another issue.
And unfortunately for Medal of Honor the fight for sales only gets harder as Assassin's Creed 3, Halo 4, and Black Ops 2 all vie for their share of the pie.
Are there any gamers out there who picked up the game and want to share their feelings on it so far? Why do you think Medal of Honor: Warfighter failed to meet EA's expectations sales-wise and critically?
Medal of Honor: Warfighter is out now for the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360.
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Source: Game Informer