Medal of Honor: Warfighter's poor reviews could spark the end of the franchise – Pachter

As we informed you yesterday, sales of the recently-released Medal of Honor: Warfighter have fallen below expectations. Now, one analyst believes the shooter's poor reception may have put the future of its franchise in jeopardy.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes (via GamesIndustry) that Warfighter's mediocre reviews could be the death knell for the Medal of Honor series, as well as EA's attempts to knock off Call of Duty publisher Activision's stranglehold on the shooter scene.

"The last iteration of Medal of Honor received an average Metacritic score of 75 in 2010 (after its predecessor received an average score of 73 in 2007), and EA management committed to improving quality with this year's release," Pachter said.

"Instead, with an average score of only 50, the game is likely to fall short of revenue expectations by $100 million or more. Perhaps more importantly, the poor performance of Medal of Honor makes it highly unlikely that EA can deliver significant digital revenues from DLC subscriptions next year, and sets the company up for a disappointing comparison to the $204 million in digital revenues it expects from Battlefield this year."

Pachter believes that Warfighter's scores may have "destroyed" any chance for a possible sequel. He says that those who pre-ordered or quickly bought the game may now feel alienated as a result of their buying a (according to reviews, at least) poor product.

Despite the relative successes of the Battlefield franchise, EA's other leading first-person shooter series, Pachter finds it "unlikely" that EA will "take Activision's mantle as the leading developer of first-person shooters" anytime soon.

"It may be too late for the Medal of Honor brand, as a score as low as this one received may be fatal."