The gaming battlefield is heating up.
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) is announcing healthy pre-orders for its Medal of Honor game, which comes out in two weeks. EA isn't divulging the actual number of titles that have been pre-sold of the military shoot-'em-up, but it is a franchise record.
This is encouraging, especially given that rival Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) is firing off the latest installment in its category-killer Call of Duty franchise in November.
Cash-strapped fans of military games -- played largely in multiplayer mode through the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) gaming network -- could have easily held off on EA's title, saving their $60 for Call of Duty: Black Ops a few weeks later.
This is one of the few gaming niches that are holding up well these days. Activision's Guitar Hero and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Rock Band franchises appear to have peaked, with folks setting aside their fake plastic guitar controllers. The simple nonviolent fare that put Nintendo (OTC BB: NTDOY.PK) on the map with its motion-based Wii also appears to have run its course. I was shocked this morning to find that not a single Nintendo-related title was on Amazon.com's list of its 15 best-sellers. It's no surprise to see Nintendo warn investors this week that it would fall far short of this year's expectations.
A shooter doesn't need to be on a military battlefield to succeed. Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO) has had success this year with BioShock 2, Red Dead Redemption, and Mafia 2.
My fear here is that developers will gang up on the niche and crank out so many flavors of the genre that gamers are either diluted or get tired of it. The gaming industry itself has been in a funk since the beginning of last year. The last thing it needs is for the developers to gut the one thing that is actually working.
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