E3 06: EA delays Superman, Medal of Honor games

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted May 3, 2006 4:07 pm PT

Movie tie-in game now set to hit alongside DVD later this year, military shooter pushed to 2007.

In the investor conference call accompanying its quarterly earnings report today, Electronic Arts announced a couple of delays for upcoming games. The company's game adaptation of this summer's blockbuster film Superman Returns has been pushed back, as has the next installment of EA's own Medal of Honor series.

Superman Returns was originally set to arrive on shelves for a number of systems alongside the movie's release this June. In the call, EA executive VP and general manager of North American publishing Frank Gibeau explained why the Man of Steel won't make that date.

"The ambitious nature of the open-world design proved to be fairly challenging, with regard to hitting the launch window for the film," Gibeau told investors. "And we wanted to look at a long-term opportunity here with Superman, so as a result we moved the product release to the fall to coincide with the DVD at holiday. Actually, from a publishing standpoint, the DVD release at holiday is a nice combination. There are more vehicles for us to market and promote the game, and we're going to get a better game this fall than we would have with the movie release."

However, Superman will still be faster than the speeding bullets of the Medal of Honor series when it comes to reaching retail. EA indicated that Medal of Honor: Airborne will not make the all-important holiday season this year as had previously been announced. Instead, Airborne is now expected to drop in the fourth quarter of the company's fiscal year (January to March of 2007).

"That is going to be a critical franchise for us in the next cycle," Gibeau said. "That's a franchise that we want to grow over the next five years… It's a very ambitious design, and again, we are prioritizing game quality higher than making that date."

This is not the first time EA, citing quality concerns, has delayed highly anticipated games. Last July, the company delayed its planned release of The Godfather. The move pushed the game out of the key holiday quarter, which had a definite impact on EA in the market. The day after the announcement, the company's stock lost nearly five percent of its value.

81 Comments

  • kmart_43210

    Posted Jul 20, 2006 5:21 pm PT

    This sucks ive been looking forwards to Moh: Airborne for so long

  • luger81

    Posted Jun 24, 2006 6:35 pm PT

    Are you kidding me? Superman 64 was the worst Superman game yet, with the exception of the Atari/NES games. Superman: The Man of Steel (XBOX) and the Superman: Shadow of Apokolips was way way way better than Superman 64. I don't know what you were thinking.

  • twobells

    Posted May 23, 2006 3:27 pm PT


    EA are a dinosaur and represents the worst example of a games publishing company.

  • OlympianRyan

    Posted May 9, 2006 4:04 pm PT

    I'm glad they are going to make to make the game better. I hope the Nintendo DS verison will be 3D and that the graphics will be extraordinary.

    I wonder if the movie will be better than Smallville?

  • JusTis

    Posted May 5, 2006 12:56 am PT

    HuhJustaBox
    I know why they are really delaying MOH. They are working on a way of buying the license to make WWII shooters. Once they procure these once often thought of impossibility of licensing apart of world history... then they will realease their craptacular MOH. This way it will not have to compete with the superiority of Call of Duty or Brothers in Arms. They are one step closer at Licensing the entire world and every possible idea of the past present and future. Viva la EA!!!!! We hate competition...it makes us look bad!!!!!

    Agreed, EA couldn't compete with companies who care about making a solid game.

    Remember Tanya Harding?

  • blitzx23

    Posted May 4, 2006 3:06 pm PT

    20 bucks says this games sucks as bad as batman begins.

  • blkgto

    Posted May 4, 2006 1:42 pm PT

    Surprised EA is in economic trouble. Wonder how many millions burger king threw at them to put their mascot in fight night round 3? MoH is an excellent franchise, but if it needed that much work that they have to push it back to march 2007, then maybe they shouldnt have said anything about a release date in the first place.

  • d429

    Posted May 4, 2006 11:52 am PT

    EA is just a money sucking machine anyway. It doesn't suprise me about a delay. I love Medal of Honor games. They are great!

  • supercrap1

    Posted May 4, 2006 11:00 am PT

    Unless Superman can pick up a building and hit a helicopter with it so hard that the helicopter goes back in time and alters the space time continuum.......uninterested

  • Fallout_red

    Posted May 4, 2006 10:10 am PT

    I hope they really make MoH:A different. This delay may be the best option.

  • sabru8

    Posted May 4, 2006 10:03 am PT

    whatever

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted May 4, 2006 9:37 am PT

    EA is more worry about their money than the quality of the games

  • mlbslugger86

    Posted May 4, 2006 9:35 am PT

    well i agree with superman returns being delayed,but why medal of honor?

  • GTA_ass

    Posted May 4, 2006 9:15 am PT

    They're delaying MOH:AA because they know that BIA:HH will wipe the floor with it.

  • tubedogg

    Posted May 4, 2006 8:01 am PT

    Am I the only one who remembers an almost identical reason for delaying The Godfather?

    "Releasing the game in early 2006 allows us more time to perfect the open-world experience of being a member of the Corleone family." (see http://videogames.yahoo.com/newsarticle?eid=374864&page=0)

    What is it about "open world[s]" that prevents EA from releasing a game on schedule? Not that it will probably hurt this game, but given EA's track record, it probably won't help much either. I wouldn't be surprised if they finished it mid-summer and just held it for the DVD's release.

    As regards The Godfather, I actually quite enjoyed it. For an EA game it was surprisingly playable and enjoyable.

  • DarknessOfFate1

    Posted May 4, 2006 7:48 am PT

    "It's a very ambitious design, and again, we are prioritizing game quality higher than making that date."

    Ambitious wtf since when does a company that releases identicle sprot games every year do soemthign ambitious? And as many gamers here have said remember super man 64 and be happy this has been delayed.

  • jcloverboy

    Posted May 4, 2006 7:46 am PT

    We need another Superman game just as much as we needed a new Superman film.

    We didn't need them at all.

  • OmitName

    Posted May 4, 2006 7:31 am PT

    Just in case it hasnt been said. Well done EA for not realeasing a game too early. EA seems like the first game company to realease a crappy game to make sure it hits in the movie premiere window.

    Now they will HAVE to make sure its good.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted May 4, 2006 5:09 am PT

    teh (not so super) superman game will be crap. (as every other superman game that has been made)

  • Pick_me_please

    Posted May 4, 2006 4:25 am PT

    I remember a few years ago when Tombraider 2 the movie came out and bombed and it blamed the quality of the video game for its poor box office performance. It almost seemed like movie studios would keep tabs on the quality of the game released alongside it. I wonder if that had anything to do with Superman getting delayed from its original release date alongside the movie.

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