Medal of Honor: Warfighter takes plenty of blame for EA’s Q3 2013 shortcomings

As previously hinted, Electronic Arts' third fiscal quarter financial results were "below expectations and guidance." For the quarter ending December 31, 2012, the publisher posted a net revenue of $922 million, a decrease from the last year's same-quarter revenue of $1.06 billion. The result is a net loss of $45 million for the quarter.

Much of the blame was directed at Medal of Honor: Warfighter, a first-person shooter developed by Danger Close Games, which EA admitted "performed well below our expectations."

The revenue shortfall was a result primarily of a miss with our Medal of Honor title and stronger than expected sector headwinds for console packaged goods," EA CEO John Riccitiello said.

"Medal of Honor was an obvious miss," added COO Peter Moore. "The game was solid but the focus on combat authenticity did not resonate with consumers." Moore, who has never been one to shy away from confronting critics about review scores claimed, "Critics were polarized and gave the game scores which were, 9 frankly, lower than it deserved." For the record, it deserved the 6.5 it scored; gameplay was as generic as could be.

"This one is behind us now. We are taking Medal of Honor out of the rotation," he said, echoing last quarter's same remarks, "and have a plan to bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings." Now that I go back and look at it, Moore's statements are exactly the same as last quarter.

Although EA's Q3 2013 results were a disappointment, they were still a significant improvement over Q3 2012 in which the publisher lost $205 million. Regardless, the results were reason enough for John Riccitiello to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer.