EA Dismisses Middling Medal of Honor Metacritic Score

[Logan Westbrook]

EA Dismisses Middling Medal of Honor Metacritic Score

Review scores don't equal sales, says EA, as it goes on the defensive over Medal of Honor [http://www.amazon.com/Medal-Honor-Xbox-360/dp/B000TI836G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286966364&sr=8-1].

Despite mixed reviews for Medal of Honor, leading to a relatively low Metacritic score compared to the likes of Modern Warfare 2 or Battlefield: Bad Company 2, EA is still confident that the relaunch of the MoH series will be a success.

An EA spokesperson said that critic's scores were very subjective and didn't translate directly to sales. Medal of Honor had received the most pre-orders of any game in the series, which was especially impressive as the series had been dormant for a while, the spokesperson added. According to EA, Medal of Honor is just the first step towards the publisher reclaiming a share of the first-person shooter market, a process it characterized as a marathon rather than a sprint.

Just yesterday [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104314-Medal-of-Honor-Reviews-Could-Be-a-Black-Eye-for-EA], analysts said that a Metacritic score less than 85 for Medal of Honor would be a "black eye" for EA. Aggregate scores of around 75 for the game would seem to have given EA that black eye, with a bloody nose thrown in for good measure as EA's stock dropped by 6%, although some believe that this is simply the end of a run for EA stock caused by the release of Medal of Honor, rather than anything to do with its reception.

EA comments are clearly an attempt at damage reduction; no one says reviews are subjective when a game gets nines across the board. But it does have a point when it says reviews and sales aren't the same thing. Medal of Honor could still go on to be very successful, even if it hasn't been a massive hit with critics.

Medal of Honor is available now in North America, tomorrow in Europe and Australia, and on Friday in the UK.

Source: LA Times [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/10/medal-of-honor-suffers-ratings-casualties-in-debut-electronic-arts-shares-down-6-percent.html] via Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-13-ea-dismisses-poor-moh-review-scores]


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[Ubermetalhed]

Hurray for failure.

Off topic: So yeh...now COD ripoff has failed do you mind publishing a new timesplitters game EA? You know seeing how you like money and high scores and all...

 

[Ubermetalhed]

Hurray for failure.

Off topic: So yeh...now COD ripoff has failed do you mind publishing a new timesplitters game EA? You know seeing how you like money and high scores and all...

Call of Duty rip-off?

You need to learn some video-game history, my friend; Call of Duty could't be any less original if it tried.

I never said COD was original but it is the unfortunate staple of what FPS games should be like nowadays. And medal of honor looked near identical to the recent COD game.

 

[HippySecond]

Shrug I have to say everything about this game for me is meh, I really like bad company, but having played the beta for this on the Ps3, it just seems kinda... meh?

I'm sure it's a good enough game, it just doesn' appear to have enough unique features to get me to spend $100 of my earth dollars

 

[Rack]

75? Honestly, people. Since when is scoring in the top quarter a bad thing?

Truly jaded and spoiled, this generation is.

The mean score of a lot of sites is around 77 so this could well put MoH in the bottom half as opposed to the top quarter. I doubt a lot of sales will be lost to this, but if people are feeling burned after buying this it will do some damage to the franchise, unless EA can correct this later.

 

[MasterV]

75? Honestly, people. Since when is scoring in the top quarter a bad thing?

Truly jaded and spoiled, this generation is.

And I'll have to agree. Review scores mean nothing. I'm with EA on this one. If the game itself is good and people like it, it'll be a success. If not, it'll fail. Only hardcore (read:clueless) nerds judge by scores alone. I don't give a crap about FPSes the last few years but some more competition in the market can only be good for us, the customers.

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

I've talked to people over on /v/ about the game, 4 hour campaign, no prone in multiplayer even if there's prone in singleplayer, buggy and unfinished. That's a shame, I was pretty damn excited for the game, actually...

Seriously, it's 4 hours long?

 

[zxBARRICADExz]

I've talked to people over on /v/ about the game, 4 hour campaign, no prone in multiplayer even if there's prone in singleplayer, buggy and unfinished. That's a shame, I was pretty damn excited for the game, actually...

ice-t called it.

ya prone in single..not in multi ya know why?..cause DICE put thier grubby unskilled hands on that product...the frostbite engine is garbage.. it ruined Battlefield... who dosnt go prone in war?... robots?...RTards?..i bought it because i needed a break from MW2... but now that i've got 15 minutes of play time on both sides of the MOH coin..i'm bored with it...

MEDAL OF HONOR : Bad Company 3.. = Better Luck Next Time.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Maths, what he's using, the sad thing is so few games get rated under about 60 nowadays, that there's no point having a percentile score, may well mark the game out of 40 then add 60 points just for existing.

EDGE Magazine used to be good at giving 7/10 to good but not amazing games, and happily giving 4s to underachievers, where that same game might score 72% elsewhere.

You'd only have to look at how many games score 80-100, and then compare that number with how many score in the 1-20 bracket.

Maybe if you want a fair score, knock 50 off and double it. 77 becomes 54, being slightly above average, which is what is MEANT by a mid 70s score nowadays.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

It is the unfortunate staple of what FPS games should be like nowadays.

'It is unfortunate, but all other FPS's should be like it.'

What?

So it is sad... but all other FPS's should be like it?

You, sir, make no sense at all.

Are you reading what I have written at all?? I didn't say 'It is unfortunate, BUT all other FPS's should be like it'

Please read what was quoted miss.

 

[GBlair88]

It is the unfortunate staple of what FPS games should be like nowadays.

'It is unfortunate, but all other FPS's should be like it.'

What?

So it is sad... but all other FPS's should be like it?

You, sir, make no sense at all.

'It is unfortunate that the gaming industry should make COD their new FPS template.'

Uber's statement made perfect sense to me.

 

[e.wlmo4]

Is it just me but is EA putting way too much time, money and effort into getting their own multiplayer shooter to compete with COD with battlefield 3, crysis 2 the respawn game and isin't there a rumor that bioware are making a military FPS.