14 DAY TRIAL // Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is already out and a new, modern Medal of Honor is coming in October this year, which means publisher Electronic Arts is launching entries in both its biggest first person shooter franchises in one year. And the aim is clear: to take down the behemoth that is the Call of Duty franchise, which is so profitable for rival Activision.
And John Riccitiello, the Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts, is making no secret of his aim, saying, “We're not going to be happy until we've taken the leadership back in the first person shooter category,” adding that “We've made great strides with Bad Company, and we expect to make further strides with Medal of Honor, and we have strong plans for years to come,” while making sure that when taking the crown, he is referring to having the biggest market share.
It's eerily similar how close the model Electronic Arts is using to regain supremacy is to that used by Activision, although the differences are also important. Where Call of Duty was handled on an alternative basis by the now gutted Infinity Ward and Treyarch, Battlefield and Medal of Honor are built by DICE and EA Los Angeles, with one specializing in multiplayer, while the other handles the single player experience. It's widely expected that most of the technology powering Medal of Honor will be similar to that used in Bad Company 2, EA making sure its two studios are collaborating as much as possible in order to deliver experiences that build on the foundations of their predecessors.
Electronic Arts revealed that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 managed to sell more than 5 million units until now and presumably Medal of Honor will do even better. Of course, the big test is whether the videogames can sell better than Call of Duty: Black Ops, which is coming in about one month later.