Medal of Honor Sales Are Not Amazing

EA’s latest MoH shooter fails to impress critics and only sells 1.5 million copies in the first five days.

By most accounts, selling that many copies in the first week would be considered a fantastic success for a game. But EA has been heavily marketing the title and claiming that the Medal of Honor franchise will overtake its chief competitor’s Call of Duty series. Unfortunately for EA, Medal of Honor did not reach anywhere near the kind of debut sales that Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 did around this time last year. 1.5 million over five days just pales in comparison to MW2‘s 7 million in one day. Not only have sales been down, but MoH is earning generally poor reviews, including from The Escapist‘s own Steve Butts. Sorry, EA, maybe you’ll have better luck with Battlefield.

That didn’t stop EA from rolling out shiny new multiplayer modes. The mode will involve teamwork and include two new maps: Bagram Hangar and Khyber Cave. Called “Clean Sweep,” the multiplayer pack will be available to download from PSN and XBL on November 2nd free of charge for those of you who bought the game new and have the Online Pass. There is no word how much it will cost if you don’t have the code for the Online Pass.

“Medal of Honor is one of EA’s most storied franchises and we’re thrilled to see that fans worldwide have embraced it,” EA’s President Frank Gibeau. “In this ultra competitive category, Medal of Honor stands out from the pack. By portraying the Tier 1 Operator as so elite, so tough, Medal of Honor offers a view into a world that has the power to resonate with FPS gamers everywhere.”

While Frank may believe that he’s got the best game out there, the truth is that Medal of Honor just doesn’t live up to its competitors. As Mr. Butts says, MoH tries to do everything that Modern Warfare 2 did but it just falls short. It’s certainly possible that MoH will be a sleeper hit and sell well on its multiplayer alone, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on that.