14 DAY TRIAL // Doug Creutz, a video game industry analyst working for Cowen and Company, believes that the upcoming Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the first-person shooter from developer Danger Close and publisher Electronic Arts, will fail to find success in the marketplace.
He tells GamesIndustry.biz that, “Based on our read of pre-release tracking data, we think the game might struggle to sell through 2M units worldwide.”
“With only a week before a murderer’s row of AAA titles begins to come out (Assassin’s Creed III on October 30; Halo 4 on November 6; Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on November 13), we think Medal of Honor: Warfighter has a very short window to capture sales,” the analyst added.
Creutz also commented on the rumor that Electronic Arts failed to offer review copies for Medal of Honor: Warfighter, saying that it showed that the publisher had little faith in the actual quality of the game.
The poor showing of Warfighter will probably be reflected in the earnings results that Electronic Arts will unveil during March 2013.
Creutz says that the publisher has a limited number of high-profile titles launching in the fourth quarter, including Crysis 3, Dead Space 3, Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, and Fuse.
He expects that they will be unable to reverse the losses created by the unsuccessful launch of Medal of Honor: Warfighter and the problems with the MMO The Old Republic.
The Star Wars-powered title will go free-to-play during November, after it has seen a big drop in subscribers since it was launched in late 2011.
The new Medal of Honor is available starting with today in North American and those in Europe will be able to get access to it on October 25, with United Kingdom gamers having to wait one more day for the shooter.