Based on its first week sales, it seems EA won't be able to replicate Battlefield 3's success with Medal of Honor Warfighter.
In its debut week (started on October 23), Danger Close's sequel to the 2010 Medal of Honor reboot managed to sell just over 300,000 units. While not a bad number in itself, it's well below the norm for first week sales of AAA games.
What's even more alarming is, this figure is even below the "pessimistic" forecast by Doug Creutz, vice president of the Cowen Group. Creutz's low estimate proved to be a third higher than Medal of Honor Warfighter's first-week sales. He now believes that the title will fail to sell through 2 million units globally, which will put EA in a very tough spot not only in competing against Activision's upcoming Black Ops 2, but to the publisher's stock value as well.
With how poorly Warfighter has performed both critically and commercially, is it time for EA to give the franchise another rest or reboot? If so, do they have another FPS that can compete with Call of Duty on Battlefield's "rest" years?
First-person shooter fans are widely hoping that Respawn Entertainment, built by Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella — the people responsible for Call of Duty's shift into "Modern Warfare" — will be that team if and when EA decides to can the next Medal of Honor game. Of course, this is just conjecture and speculation. But Respawn does have a multi-year deal locked in with EA's Partners Program and with DICE stating that they don't want to release annual Battlefield games, it might fall on Respawn to cook up their own Call of Duty killer. Since they are the ones who essentially made the franchise (CoD) what it is today, I gather they know a thing or two on how to take it down, no?
So, does this mean there won't be a sequel to Warfighter or that this might be Danger Close's last game? Your guess is as good as mine at this point.
Do you think Warfighter's a victim of military FPS fatigue or was it just not a good game? Come to think of it, is it even a good idea to release so close to both Halo 4 and Black Ops 2? Sound off on what you think on the comments below.
Thanks, GamesIndustry
