The ever-escalating controversy surrounding the Medal of Honor reboot has sparked political and media frenzy, perhaps even more so than the infamous “No Russian” level from Modern Warfare 2 managed. EA Games president Frank Gibeau knew that controversy was going to happen, but the point was to take a “creative risk.”
Despite statements from the families of fallen soldiers, various media outlets and even British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, EA will not bow to pressure. The game will be released unaltered this October.
Speaking with Develop, Gibeau affirmed this resolve. “We respect the media’s views,” he said, “but at the same time [these reports] don’t compromise our creative vision and what we want to do.”
EA’s incredibly proud of its long-awaited Medal Of Honor reboot, which is co-developed by DICE and the newly renamed Danger Close Studios.
“The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralized, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Bringing Medal of Honor back was no small feat,” Gibeau added.
“There’s a lot of furor around games that take creative risks – like games that let you play terrorists in airports mowing down civilians,” he continued, referencing the “No Russian” level in Modern Warfare 2 that allows gamers to commit terrorist acts.
Gibeau also noted that games still get unfairly singled out: “At EA we passionately believe games are an art form, and I don’t know why films and books set in Afghanistan don’t get flack, yet [games] do. Whether it’s Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform.”
“Games have been set in Afghanistan before. We anticipated this [controversy] when we decided on the concept of the game – this is about being a special forces solider.”
“What’s really important for us is that we partnered with the U.S. military, and the Medal of Honor Society as well. We’ve gone out of our way to produce the best story for the game.”
“The fact that it’s set in Afghanistan is the context, but the game is about you and your team going through a number of missions and feeling what it was like to be in a soldier’s position.”
“That’s always been a Medal of Honor concept – we put you in the boots of a solider, whether it’s in the Pacific, Europe, Afghanistan; it’s always been the story of the solider.”
2 Comments
August 25, 2010
The only explanation anyone needs to have is this:
"The game has a multiplayer mode, where two teams of people compete against each other. One team is the good guys, the others are the bad guys."
The end.
How many FPS titles have allowed for the "killing" of Americans in a multiplayer setting? All of them? How many years ago was Counter Strike released?
September 2, 2010
This entire thing is a PR masterstroke for EA. Regardless of the ethics, the right or wrong of including the Taliban tribes as playable the fact remains that Medal of Honor is getting ongoing easy publicity. Essentially since the core market of males 16-40 will likely not be as offended as certain other demographics- so it's likely that better sales will result thanks to media and word of mouth discussion of the topic.
The MoH franchise is almost a decade old now. Allied Assault was released in 2001 on a modified version of id's Quake III engine. Controversy like this is a method by which Electronic Arts props up a slipping brand to keep their margin healthy. Whether you support or oppose the content is irrelevant as it isn't getting in the way of the monetary purpose.
Pete, editor at Dirty Garnet