Medal of Honor has been one of the first FPS series around, but it hasn’t manage to survive alongside Call of Duty and Battlefield. Over the years Electronic Arts, the owner of the IP, has strived to make a revive happen, changing its themes and formula, but has failed after a promising reboot and a lackluster sequel.
Medal of Honor was one of the first FPS series around, but it hasn’t managed to survive alongside Call of Duty and Battlefield. Over the years the game’s developers, Electronic Arts, have strived to revive the series. It attempted changing the game’s themes and the formula but have failed after a promising reboot and a lackluster sequel.
According to a feature article from Game Informer, it’s about time to build a new game in the franchise. EA is going to allow Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Apex Legends, Titanfall, and the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, to handle the development.
“After leaving 2015 to form Infinity Ward and develop Call of Duty, West and Zampella eventually had a falling out with Activision,” recalls the article. It hints at Respawn being the perfect fit for the series to get revived once again.
The duo left and founded Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the Titanfall series and Apex Legends, both of which are published by EA. While West is no longer with Respawn, several former Medal of Honor developers are still at the studio. Steve Fukuda, for example, went from an assistant on Medal of Honor to lead designer on the Titanfall series. With the spirit of Medal of Honor living on at Respawn, it’s perfectly positioned to resurrect the franchise.
The Titanfall series serves well as an indicator of Respawn’s ability to develop first-person shooter campaigns. The level design in Titanfall 2 and the ideas developed through each individual mission are perfect for the multiple theaters of war the new Medal of Honor could feature. Apex Legends also stands as proof that Respawn can tackle modern multiplayer trends with grace and ease, rounding out its sterling resumé.
With talent coming from previous experiences for Medal of Honor now part of the team, the team behind the tremendous single-player campaign from Titanfall 2 have excellent knowledge of multiplayer. Respawn, which is now owned by EA, could indeed be an excellent choice to work on the IP. And one we would even encourage.
As for the reasons for the failure of the previous reboot, the article details the franchise made the jump to the modern era a little late. That’s compared to competitors like Call of Duty (2007) and Battlefield (2005), coming up with the war in Afghanistan only in 2010. That did cost the closure of Danger Close Games, the studio which worked on the single-player campaign.
So, what do you think about this opinion piece, and more importantly about the idea of Respawn getting linked to the Medal of Honor brand?
