Pre-orders for Medal Of Honor have hit a franchise record, according to publisher EA.
“This milestone positions Medal Of Honor alongside EA's top pre-selling action games, and there is still one week remaining until the game hits retails shelves on Oct 12,” the company said in a statement, without offering any actual pre-order figures.
For the first time in its ten year history, the series leaves the theatre of WWII in favour of a modern, war-torn Afghanistan setting, which has attracted a fair share of controversy.
EA also said that from October 1 gamers can download the client for the title’s three day PC open multiplayer beta, which launches on October 4.
The news that Medal Of Honor is seeing strong pre-order interest comes just days after Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell said the “game is not developing the level of buzz necessary to knock Call Of Duty off its perch".
According to Gamasutra, Kaufman labelled its launch timing "ill-timed, sandwiched between the September 14 release of Microsoft's Halo: Reach, which recorded $200 million in first-day sales, and the November 9 release of Call Of Duty: Black Ops… We really don't see a rationale for owning all three of these games", he said.