President, EA Games Label, Frank Gibeau has responded to the ongoing Medal of Honor firestorm - reignited on Sunday by UK defence secretary Liam Fox.
The EA exec told Develop, "The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralised, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Brining Medal of Honor back was no small feat."
Stating that games are "an art form" that can be compared to movies and literature in their portrayal of events, no matter how current, Gibeau further asserts that, "Games have been set in Afghanistan before. We anticipated this [controversy] when we decided on the concept of the game – this is about being a special forces solider."
He also restates a fact that appears to have passed Dr Liam Fox by in his assertion that taking the role of the Taliban in multi-player enables gamers to kill British soldiers, "What’s really important for us is that we partnered with the US military, and the Medal of Honor Society as well. We’ve gone out of our way to produce the best story for the game."
However, Gibeau does take a swerve on the central cause of the currently raging debate: "Is it okay to play as the 'enemy' in a current conflict?" by stating, "...we put you in the boots of a solider, whether it’s in the Pacific, Europe, Afghanistan; it’s always been the story of the solider."
The EA exec told Develop, "The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralised, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Brining Medal of Honor back was no small feat."
Stating that games are "an art form" that can be compared to movies and literature in their portrayal of events, no matter how current, Gibeau further asserts that, "Games have been set in Afghanistan before. We anticipated this [controversy] when we decided on the concept of the game – this is about being a special forces solider."
He also restates a fact that appears to have passed Dr Liam Fox by in his assertion that taking the role of the Taliban in multi-player enables gamers to kill British soldiers, "What’s really important for us is that we partnered with the US military, and the Medal of Honor Society as well. We’ve gone out of our way to produce the best story for the game."
However, Gibeau does take a swerve on the central cause of the currently raging debate: "Is it okay to play as the 'enemy' in a current conflict?" by stating, "...we put you in the boots of a solider, whether it’s in the Pacific, Europe, Afghanistan; it’s always been the story of the solider."
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