According to industry analyst Michael Pachter, EA shares dropped 6% yesterday as a result of investors being disappointed with early Medal of Honor reviews.
The game is sitting on 75% on Gamerankings, and 74% on Metacritic. Sadly, in games journalism anything below 85% on a AAA game is perceived as a failure. Medal of Honor’s two biggest competitors received much higher review averages, with Halo: Reach sitting on 91.79% on Gamerankings, and Modern Warfare 2 having settled around the 93% mark on different platforms.
“‘Medal of Honor’ reviews are not looking good,” said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. “This can dampen future catalog sales as word of mouth dampens consumer enthusiasm.”
Medal of Honor is being released locally on Friday, and we expect to have our own review in next week.
However, early indications are that the game will not reach the critical heights achieved by market leaders.