Electronic Arts" new Medal of Honor game -- expected to be out in October -- has been getting a lot of negative attention recently. The UK defense secretary said publicly that the game should be banned and now GameStop has decided not to sell the game in stores located in U.S. military bases.
Apparently, the problem is that the game allows players to play as the Taliban fighting against NATO troops. EA, in a response to the negative press said "The format of the new Medal of Honor game merely reflects the fact that every conflict has two sides. We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven: someone plays the cop, someone must be robber. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone"s got to be the Taliban."
But GameStop has said that they will not sell the game on military bases out of respect for the soldiers. They told Industry Gamer, "GameStop has agreed out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform we will not carry Medal of Honor in any of our AAFES based stores... As such, GameStop agreed to have all marketing material pulled by noon today and to stop taking reservations. Customers who enter our AAFES stores and wish to reserve Medal of Honor can and should be directed to the nearest GameStop location off base."
From the statement it seems the decision was not something GameStop decided but something that the AAFES based stores requested of them and they agreed to the deal. An industry analyst, Michael Pachter, said that GameStop"s decision will have little to no impact on the sale of the game. He expects the game to sell over 3.5 million copies worldwide.