EA‘s third quarter financial results were a disappointment for the game publisher. The company announced a net loss of $45 million on a reduced revenue of $921 million.

During the EA earnings call, Medal of Honor: Warfighter was consistently blamed for the poor revenue. As a result, EA is writing off the entire Medal of Honor Franchise, and apparently won’t be making any more of the games for the foreseeable future. From EA’s prepared comments:

Medal of Honor was an obvious miss. The game was solid but the focus on combat authenticity did not resonate with consumers. Critics were polarized and gave the game scores which were, frankly, lower than it deserved. This one is behind us now. We are taking Medal of Honor out of the rotation, and have a plan to bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings.

A few things here. First, critics were not polarized on their feelings toward Warfighter – the game was met with almost universal distaste. Also, who are they kidding with the phrase “combat authenticity?” The ARMA series is combat authenticity; Warfighter is a Call of Duty clone. As for the yearly shooter offerings EA just promised, expect to see a spinoff Battlefield series announced in the near future.

The failure of Medal of Honor: Warfighter shouldn’t have come as any surprise to EA executives. The game was a textbook example of a terrible publishing strategy. Warfighter was a cynical attempt to capture some of the Call of Duty franchise’s fans by releasing a game that was similar, but featured even more of the “macho” military bravado seen in Activision’s titles. Furthermore, the game was clearly shipped unfinished to meet EA’s release date, which was scheduled for one month before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Gamers who did buy Warfighter were greeted by massive day-one patch that fixed dozens of bugs and glitches that should never have made it onto the final game disc.