This Classic FPS Franchise Could Be the Black Ops to Battlefield’s Modern Warfare

EA has seen its share of struggles recently with the Battlefield franchise. Outside of 2016’s Battlefield 1, it feels like every major Battlefield game over the last decade or so has come with its share of issues. No entry has made this clearer than 2021’s Battlefield 2024, which certainly did its part to alienate most of the fanbase and make them forget about how great the series had once been.

Given that the Battlefield franchise was once considered the cream of the crop among first-person shooters, it’s been sad to see it move in the direction it has. It feels like EA’s first-person shooter output could use a massive bounce back after the last few Battlefield titles. However, perhaps EA could give itself that boost with the return of a different first-person shooter franchise.

EA Should Bring Back The Medal of Honor Series

It’s Been Too Long Since Medal of Honor Got A Chance

If EA wants to give itself a shot in the arm in the first-person shooter market, it should think about revitalizing the Medal of Honor series. A franchise first created by legendary film director Steven Spielberg, the original game was a massive success on the original PlayStation, leading to the popularization of World War II shooters. From there, Medal of Honor became a staple franchise during the sixth generation, with numerous successful games on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox.

Sadly, the franchise saw itself fall off in the early 2010s, especially as it started to too closely follow the footsteps of Call of Duty, specifically the Modern Warfare titles. Following 2012’s Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the series went on a long hiatus, only returning in 2020 with a VR-exclusive title, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Still, the Medal of Honor franchise remains highly popular, and there may be no better time than the present for EA to give it another go.

Medal of Honor And Battlefield Could Run in Tandem

Bringing back Medal of Honor could provide some solid variation to the Battlefield formula, especially as EA has the potential to follow a cyclical release pattern between the titles. The publisher could spend a year promoting and releasing a new Medal of Honor game, then send that team to work on the next game while promoting the next Battlefield game. Given that Activision naturally trades off games in the two main Call of Duty sub-franchises – Modern Warfare and Black Ops – EA could do the same thing with two entirely different games.

Medal of Honor returning could also make sense in that it provides a unique flavor compared to Battlefield. With a few exceptions, the Medal of Honor franchise has been set in World War II, and while some recent Battlefield titles have gone with boots-on-ground gameplay, several of its entries have focused on modern and future warfare. Having Medal of Honor and Battlefield going back-to-back would give the best of both worlds, giving players options on what types of wars they prefer to fight in.

Bringing back
Medal of Honor
could provide some solid variation to the
Battlefield
formula, especially as EA has the potential to follow a cyclical release pattern between the titles.

EA Has The Teams To Make A New Medal of Honor Game

EA can help its case with Medal of Honor because it has the teams to work on a new game. While DICE would probably be best served to stick to Battlefield for now, Respawn Entertainment has clear experience with the first-person shooter genre and could easily be enlisted to make a new one. After all, the team did work on Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond in 2020, and it could be time to let them handle a non-VR version of the series.

Medal of Honor making a return may be a long shot, as the franchise was initially taken out of EA’s rotation because of its sales. Nevertheless, there’s no better time than right now for EA to bring Medal of Honor back with guns blazing. With Medal of Honor and Battlefield going back-to-back, EA could re-establish itself big-time in the first-person shooter market.