2012 might mark the beginning of gamers finally getting sick and tired of generic modern war shooters, a trend that has long overstayed its welcome. It happened with plastic musical instruments, and it could very well continue here.
Thanks to ferocious backlash from gamers and critics alike, EA announced during their third quarter financial call that Medal of Honor will be pulled from the annual rotation of video games. They cite poor commercial and critical reception of the most recent entry, Medal of Honor: Warfighter.
EA's COO Peter Moore stated that the game was undeservedly derided during its run, but it's all in the past now.
"The game was solid, but the focus on combat authenticity did not resonate with consumers. Critics were polarized and gave the game scores which were, frankly, lower than it deserved. This one is behind us now. We are taking Medal of Honor out of the rotation and have a plan to bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings."
We reviewed Medal of Honor: Warfighter and found it to be a hodgepodge of tired mechanics below a really bad storyline.
EA's other modern shooter series are now boiled down to just Battlefield and its sub-series Bad Company.
Activision's Call of Duty had a decent year, but Black Ops II is currently the worst selling game in the series since the whole modern war fad started with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It also didn't dominate the awards season as it has typically done in years past, walking away with very few awards.
Could this be a sign of fatigue amongst gamers? Or, will the next generation console technology prove capable enough to reignite the genre's fading dominance of the market?
