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EA Talks Medal Of Honor Quality Problems

A recent conversation with EA chief creative director Rich Hilleman sheds light on the lackluster performance of recent entries.

In an interview with Rock, Papter Shotgun, Hilleman expressed his belief that Medal of Honor could find a place in the market if EA is able to get the game right. “We don’t think its a genre problem,” Hilleman says. “It’s an execution problem. We don’t think Medal of Honor’s performance speaks to any particular bias in that space against modern settings, World War II, or any of that. It’s much more that we had some things we should’ve done better.” 

He goes on to opine that leadership on the recent Medal of Honor titles wasn’t what it could have been. “I think a key part of this is having the right amount of high-quality production talent," he says. "And we didn’t have the quality of leadership we needed to make [Medal of Honor] great. We just have to get the leadership aligned.”  

Instead of doubling down on the franchise, he claims that EA will focus its efforts in the genre on Battlefield for the foreseeable future. 

What do you think about Medal of Honor taking a few years off?

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Comments
  • I grew up on Halo and Medal of Honor. Halo is still going strong, so I'd like to see Medal of Honor take a break to get back to it's previous standard.
  • Even though I never agreed that the newest MoH was as bad as most people made it out to be, EA certainly needs to take some time off. Admitting that you didn't pay attention to the game's development is admitting that you don't care about the franchise or it's fans. Why bother at all? The only thing they need to be focusing on right now is Bad Company 3. For the time being, I really couldn't care less about any other military shooters.
  • hopefully taking a break will make it come back on track.

  • It's all sorts of problems. Not just genre or execution. Medal of Honor was at its peak when it was set in WWII and on the PC. I enjoyed Allied Assault and Rising Sun on the consoles as well, but they should go back to their roots and reinvent or expand their original ideas.
  • I am glad that this series is going to take a break, and this is someone who has enjoyed most of the games. Kudos to EA for being able to make decisions like this. If only Activision would take some notes from them. And I almost get the feeling he is pointing fingers when he refers to "leadership talent". Am I alone in that regard?
  • I think EA needs to take a long and hard look at the products it's making. All of their IP's used to be unique and offered something new. They've slowly all converged to a single point where every single game (other than EA sports games) are a generic shooter that is not worth playing.

    A few years ago I loved what EA was doing with having so many new IP's. I was even okay with their online pass, because they were taking chance with their games and doing something creative. This can no longer be said about their company. It's sad to say this, because the games they've published in the last 2 years or so have dropped in quality by quite a lot.

  • EA Just stop. You're making matters worse. Stop trying to compete with Activision's "Call of Duty". It's clear that it isn't working.
  • It just didnt do anything that would make it stand out from the crowd.  As much as I dont like COD and how it gets so much praise for being a mediocre game, COD did things to make it stand out and be the go-to game for the masses.  MOH just kinda copied it with some better graphics and different story... that's not enough to become the NEXT best thing to the masses.

  • I'd rather play Battlefield anyways, so good on them for putting all their effort into that instead of making just another plain military shooter.
  • Yay for doubled effort on Battlefield!

  • Take all the time you need EA. I don't think this franchise could survive another failed attempt
  • EA had great leadership on Medal of Honor in Greg Goodrich and Danger Close. Just look at Medal of Honor 2010's campaign. EA is the one who forced their hand into Warfighter's development and hung Goodrich and DC out to dry in the middle of development.

  • "We don’t think Medal of Honor’s performance speaks to any particular bias in that space against modern settings, World War II, or any of that. " That's a BS way of saying "our game sucked"
  • It was EA's meddling in the development of the game, insistence on partnering with Zero Dark Thirty, and their overall retardation that both alienated the tier 1 operators tied to the project and forced Greg Goodrich out of the picture.

    The fact that they have the balls to blame it all on the "leadership" is insane. EA was mostly to blame here, not Danger Close, Greg Goodrich, or the tier 1 operators.
  • Its okay to taste failure. Find your mistakes then fix them. You can do better in a positive way.

  • So now no dumb ass can talk *** about game informer giving biased reviews toward medal of honor.The publishers are admitting their mistakes in the games performance.
  • So now no dumb ass can talk *** about game informer giving biased reviews toward medal of honor.The publishers are admitting their mistakes in the games performance.

  • I remember the first Medal of Honor game, when it use to be a history lesson and you being more of a spy rather than a one man army.
  • I think it's a great idea to lay off on it and focus on Battlefield. It's unfortunate how the series has fallen and some time off will allow them to either come up with better execution or axe it entirely.
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