Following the release of EA’s hopeful ‘CoD killer’, Medal of Honor, the fans have been lapping up this revamped title from day one, quite a few of them actually come to mention it. The latest figures are coming in around 1.5 million sales worldwide in an impressive 5 days.
A lot of critics were sceptical about the success Medal of Honor would ultimately have, because of its unashamed mirroring of Activision’s Call of Duty games. Despite some distinctly average to neutral reviews across the board, EA’s game seems to be collecting money rather quickly.
A lot of gamers who were fed up with Modern Warfare 2’s ridiculously overpowered killstreak system had Medal of Honour in their sights as a very serious potential game changer for them. We all knew EA were trying to dig their fingers in the military FPS pie once again, so all Activision does is release another trailer for eagerly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops, quite happily undermining Medal of Honor’s release day.
The move was no doubt a deliberate marketing ‘sparring session’ of sorts, but it makes us remember that Modern Warfare 2 sold roughly 4 million copies worldwide in one day and that no matter how hard EA are pushing this game, Activision and Treyarch know they are still the top dogs of this gritty and popular genre.
However, I think EA deserves a round of applause for being so bold and trying to turn the tides a little bit, in what let’s face it has been a CoD dominated platform for several years now. Next year though, all this could change with a line up radiating awesome-ness set to release Q1 with EA nurturing refreshingly OTT shooter Bulletstorm, and a title with looks to howl for; Crysis 2. 2011 looks to be a very exciting and busy year for the gaming industry so watch this space, and don’t underestimate Electronic Arts, they aren’t going anywhere.
