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Electronic Arts' Spore has more than just a cult following trailing its footsteps. Will Wright's long-awaited strategy-simulator is bound to recruit new fans from the wake of the Nintendo DS and Wii's success with non-gamers, while remaining a solid candidate for PC and Mac gamer's game of the year. EA doesn't doubt that they will sell millions of copies of Spore but analysts' opinions are a mixed bag.
Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities says that from first glance, the easy-to-play, easy-to-learn simulator will sell three million copies easy. "If it's as good as it looks, it has the potential to do twice that," he added, even while investor doubts continue to loom over Spore's overall market impact.
But here's where the optimism ends and speculations rise. Many industry vets believe that Spore isn't entirely casual gamer friendly since it takes different strides in sims, real-time strategy, and warfare. There's a hidden difficulty curve, some would believe, that could lessen the charm of the game with the casual segment.
Analyst Jesse Divnich of The SimExchange noted that if Electronic Arts pegs expectations too high, investors will likely hope for the same and only grow frustrated once results aren't as stellar. And this would be EA's primary concern, as rival publisher Activision's shares soared to 55% dwarfing EA's 3.2% decline for the same period.
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