EA: We Won't Beat Halo and Call of Duty in 2011

[Logan Westbrook]

EA: We Won't Beat Halo and Call of Duty in 2011

EA's COO says that his company will have to settle for third in the race for FPS top dog next year.

EA's Chief Operations Officer John Schappert believes that between Battlefield [http://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-Bad-Company-2-Xbox-360/dp/B001QXNBJM/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280932649&sr=1-1] and the reboot of Medal of Honor [http://www.amazon.com/Medal-Honor-Limited-Xbox-360/dp/B000TI836G/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280932621&sr=1-1], the publisher will see a significant increase in its share of the FPS market. But despite this growth, he's not expecting EA to be king of the castle just yet.

In an earnings call, Schappert said that 2010 had been a good year for EA in terms of FPS market share - better than any in recent history - and said that it was almost a "foregone conclusion" that 2011 would bring further increases. But thanks to competition from Call of Duty: Black Ops [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280932708&sr=1-1] and Halo: Reach [http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Reach-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA20M/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280932676&sr=1-2], he said, EA wouldn't be the market leader in 2011.

"[M]ake no mistake, we think we've got the people and the brands to take the leadership back in the FPS space," he said. "[But] I don't expect to topple either Halo or CoD this year."

It's not really surprising that Schappert isn't expecting to crush the opposition, as Call of Duty and Halo are both enormous brands, and while the Medal of Honor series has its fans, expecting it to triumph over two giants of the genre is just unrealistic. Medal of Honor, Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops are all scheduled for release this fall.

Source: Seeking Alpha [http://seekingalpha.com/article/218456-electronic-arts-q1-2011-earnings-call-transcript?part=qanda] via Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ea-admits-cod-and-halo-will-rule-2010]





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[Flying-Emu]

At least he's being realistic.

Probably hurt MoH's sales, using Linkin Park as a headliner for their music. I'm no musician, or game designer... but that sounds like a bit of a misstep.

 

[Pandalisk]

I think since its been such a long time that we've have these series that its now become something more about the brand name than the actual game, people will buy a halo or CoD game regardless of quality and i dont think MoH ever had that brand name impact, it was always considered the lesser FPS by most of the 3, that poor basterd with the bronze.

 

[Autofaux]

Medal of Honor: Frontline was its last great hurrah before the series was stomped into the ground by repetitive sequels. It's not too late for it. I've been aching for cinematic story in an FPS since Call of Duty 4, and so far it seems like something of a white elephant.

Fucking white elephants.

 

[William Dickbringer]

At least he's being realistic.

Probably hurt MoH's sales, using Linkin Park as a headliner for their music. I'm no musician, or game designer... but that sounds like a bit of a misstep.

my thoughts exactly it's refreshing to see a game company come out and say "we're not going to be top dog this year" instead of hearing "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THE BESTEST GAME EVAR!IT'S GOING TO TAKE OUT CALL OF DUTY!"

 

[Enemy Of The State]

I for one think that EA has the best FPS game out now in the form of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

 

[ENKC]

And yet, I would take Bad Company over any of them. Perhaps I'll take the new MoH over any of them as well, but that remains to be seen. Certainly BC 2 was the FPS to finally drag me away from Call of Duty.

 

[silver wolf009]

No matter how bad your situation is you dont puplicly say your going to lose. Thats just common sense EA.

 

[JeanLuc761]

No matter how bad your situation is you dont puplicly say your going to lose. Thats just common sense EA.

Part of me agrees but I like my companies to have a little bit of modesty. Maybe not the best for publicity but on the PR side, it's nice to see a company being honest.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Of course you won't.

No one will.

It's coll that you're not over-estimating yourself? I guess?

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

Chin up EA, maybe you can over take the sales of some lesser first person shooters. Like....ummm Aliens vs Predator??

 

[therookie95]

Now that Reach's forge has been revealed there is no way he's going to beat Halo for a long time although beating CoD may be possible in the future if they can make more popular games.
Personally, I prefer BBC2 over MW2 but none of my friends have it and wind up on MW2 cause someone was on it so we wanted to play it with them.

 

[AT God]

They all sound awful to me. Every one of them is like a sixth game in a series, they need to give up soon.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

2012- year of battlefield 3. yeah, that dude is thinking right.

shappart: k we gonna be only a bit rich in 2011.



DICE and the rest: boo


but we gonna be rich when DICe realesa battlefield 3.



DICE: im awsome

 

[latenightapplepie]

That's a bit pessimistic. I mean, Schappert didn't have to say that they were going to outsell their competitors (because they likely won't), but did he have to admit defeat already?

 

[DominicxD]

Yeah I can't believe they did that thing with Linkin Park. Have they even heard the old Medal of Honor soundtrack? It was this big epic orchestral masterpeice that really helped immerse you in the game and several years later you would hear it and you would remember all the wonderful times you had on those games. I just don't see that happening with Linkin Park.

I reckon the whole Linkin Park thing will only just make people want the game less.

 

[Wtfmissile]

At least he's being realistic.

Probably hurt MoH's sales, using Linkin Park as a headliner for their music. I'm no musician, or game designer... but that sounds like a bit of a misstep.

I don't know if it's any better than Activision using Eminem for the CoDs....

 

[Jared]

Well, they are realistic at least...but, still. I think with the popularity o CoD and Halo...they may have a hardtime scaling past them.

Got alot to prove