OPINION: EA ruffling the FPS waters

We love a good old fight in the games industry. After all, the core mechanic in most games is competition, friendly or otherwise.

So to hear EA finally place down its spoonful of humble pie, and plainly acknowledge that, no, it won’t let Call of Duty lead the pack is fun to hear. Fun for us journalists – and fun for the rest of the industry.

Because for a minute there we were all starting to think that our lead core gaming genre – the shooter – was starting to get predictable and dull.

Another year, another record-breaking Halo – and another top flight Call of Duty. How predictable.

That’s not to undermine the successes of those (we talk Halo below), but EA’s bid to disrupt the FPS party can only be good for everyone. It’ll serve to keep consumers piqued during the Christmas peak. And it gives retailers and the media (guilty as charged…) something fresh to talk about.

Of course, there’s a long way to go to take out Call of Duty and even EA isn’t bullish enough to say it will do it in one fell swoop.

But the firm’s complement of shooters, Hollywood-styled Medal of Honor and the more tactical Battlefield series, does give it a pincer that CoD doesn’t have yet. And the bitter rivalry between FIFA and PES has shown that no one stays on top forever.