EA's profits take a slide as Spore is delayed until 2008

The industry's largest publisher has suffered increased financial losses for the first quarter of 2007, and have also delayed the much anticipated Spore until 2008 at the earliest.

By Frederick Cannon

According to a recent report from GameSpot, Electronic Arts posted a net loss of $25 million for the three months ending March 31st, 2007, which increased from the $16 million setback suffered during the same quarter in 2006. The company took in $613 million in net revenue during the quarter, down 4% from $641 million last year. Stock in the company fell over more than 2.6 percent after the announcement, selling for $1.39 less than its $52.94 closing price.

As far as the past quarter goes, EA has only released a handful of major titles. The Sims 2: Seasons expansion sold over 1 million copies, while Burnout Dominator and Def Jam Icon pushed 500,000 units each. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars sold less than expected with only 128,000 copies of the PC version sold to date. Still, EA CFO Warren Jenson has referred to the game as a "successful relaunch" of the series.

Amidst all these facts and figures was the announcement that the much hyped god-game Spore has slipped out of this fiscal year, which means that the title will not see release until April 2008 at the earliest. The company is determined to see the game hit shelves as close to the date as possible though, as EA CEO John Riccitiello clarified.

"Spore is a title we have enormous confidence in," he told analysts in a recent conference call. "I've had the chance to review the title three times in my short return to the EA and it looks fantastic. I will also tell you that its release will be right up [to] the bubble in Q4 [fiscal '08], if not sometime in early fiscal '09 so we don't feel comfortable in forecasting it."

The delays are due to quality control checks, to ensure that the game is as complete and refined as it can be before it hits store shelves, hinting at the possibility of a long future ahead for the Will Wright inspired god-game.

"We're focusing on quality to make sure we build a franchise that feels more like The Sims, a franchise that we hope... to see around for some time in the future."

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