No Spore until Q2 2008 ... no, seriously

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 8th 2007 at 8:29PM }

It's worth noting that Spore isn't in the 2008 fiscal year plans for EA. This means that Spore is not expected to release until, at a minimum, April of 2008. Observant readers probably saw this coming when last month Soren Johnson, lead designer for Civ IV, joined the Spore development team, meaning that there's probably still a little way to go. We'll just make the pain of this post come to a abrupt end by saying that Spore has been in development since 2000 and only prescient aliens evolving on some other planet know when it'll actually release.

Tags: 2008, never, spore, will wright

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mitsuo @ May 8th 2007 8:37PM

at least it's not like DN: forever. >.>

Aberu @ May 8th 2007 8:33PM

I heard of taking more time to accurately complete a project but this is ridiculous! It's like peanuts as airline food. What is the deal with that? And another thing...

beelzebub123 @ May 8th 2007 8:38PM

This game is going to be EPIC!!

StevO @ May 8th 2007 8:38PM

You're going to eat your words Mitsuo
This will be the next Duke Nukem Forever

kingofwale @ May 8th 2007 8:40PM

I smell Vapour.

Cody @ May 8th 2007 8:41PM

Imagine if the game ends up being just average, or not really that revolutionary and just being another "The Sims" essentially. That would suck.

White Rose Duelist @ May 8th 2007 8:46PM

How many E3s has this shown at so far? I'd put my money on an November 2,000,008 release date.

Fernando Rocker @ May 8th 2007 8:44PM

Smell like vapor... vaporware...

TheGuy @ May 8th 2007 8:45PM

Hmm...my Duke Nukem Forever-esque vaporware senses are tingling. Seriously, we need either a solid release date or some new screenshots and/or videos to keep this game from being called vaporware.

moominsean @ May 8th 2007 8:49PM

sounds more like a school project than a planned release. just keep tweaking it forever. might as well release early versions on the internet while people still care. i'm betting it gets released and scores like 79 by somebody's grading standard.
either that or it's actually an alien takeover...they just want you to THINK it's only a game.

waLLy @ May 8th 2007 8:53PM

worst news of the day.

i'm gonna lose interest by the time this thing comes out.

FrankTheCrank @ May 8th 2007 9:07PM

This has got to be the most overhyped game of all time. This is a niche game that a few select people will buy and play.

It's an MMO with beings you create and grow?

Sorry, but that sounds boring and crappy.

This game won't do GTA IV or GH2/GH3 numbers. I just don't see it.

Rod Munch @ May 8th 2007 9:10PM

Temper, temper. Its nothing to cry over guys! As soon as the next video comes out you will be all over it again.

Jake @ May 8th 2007 9:12PM

Spore is definately a niche game. But if you are interested in that sort of thing, is SHOULD be awesome. But April 2008 is far enough away that maybe we should just forget about it until next Feburary. Wow, I can't spell Februrary right now. I see the college education is wearing off nicely.

jaysins @ May 8th 2007 9:21PM

EA has dumped way too much money into spore to not release anything. The estimated sum is over 20 million dollars. That's a lot of money to swallow no doubt. I think it will be a truly unique experience and sell very well, but we can only speculate at this point.

Rubang B @ May 8th 2007 9:25PM

"It's worth noting that Spore isn't in the 2008 fiscal year plans for EA. This means that Spore is not expected to release until, at a minimum, April of 2008."

CJC @ May 8th 2007 9:56PM

I'm pretty piseed off right now. Anybody else?

And I really don't think this qualifies as a "niche" game. I see it getting massively popular, not Sims popular, but still very successful.

BlessedBullet @ May 8th 2007 9:59PM

Horray, Spore will have the most E3 awards ever...!

Mike @ May 8th 2007 10:04PM

It smells much more like Daikatana than DNF, but I still have high, foolish hopes.

Alfonso LEiva @ May 9th 2007 12:04AM

omgunz... i really want this spore game... i'm starting to hate them... i want to design my very own monsters and rule the universe...
maybe i start forgeting the idea about it will be released

AssemblyLineHuman @ May 8th 2007 10:18PM

...

Cale @ May 8th 2007 10:24PM

Two things.

1. It could be rushed and buggy. The game sounds quite complicated.

2. Yeah it's a niche game. So was the Sims. Is the Sims 1 + it's expansion packs still the no.1 PC game of all time in term of copies sold. This game will bigger for Strategy/Sim games than WOW is for the MMO. It could save the genre.

Arbuz Chokaro @ May 8th 2007 10:24PM

Wow. They had people PLAYING the game LAST YEAR. What the hell are they still doing?

Tim @ May 8th 2007 11:02PM

AARRGGH! Don't jinx it with references to DNF!

Whoever thinks this won't be a big hit is crazy. Everyone saw how massively popular the Sims games are, and this thing is essentially the next step up from those games.

This delay is disappointing, I really want to try this game out.

Dan @ May 8th 2007 11:12PM

Gamespot hinted it might even be '09 ... which would suck.

Chase @ May 8th 2007 11:44PM

where'd you guys get a picture of my ex girlfriend's love box?

Nycteris @ May 8th 2007 11:46PM

Wow people already mentioned Daikatana and DN:Forever. I have nothing left to post about. ;)

Purple Haze @ May 9th 2007 12:17AM

The release dates being procedurally generated

Yobari @ May 9th 2007 12:21AM

The 2008 fiscal year starts on april 1st 2008, so i guess you meant there are no plans for Spore in the 2007 fiscal year.

It's not easy to understand those crazy accountant calendars right?

Skwurl @ May 9th 2007 12:21AM

#12

Perhaps you should watch the E3 videos if you think this game is 'boring and crappy'.

Also, kudos on the incredible foresight that this game won't do GTA numbers. You must be the smartest gamer on this site.

orAngeMicro @ May 9th 2007 1:28AM

tihs defintely pisses me off i was really lookibng forward to this game i have a feeling well see the end of the mayan calender come and go before this gets released

Poisoned Al @ May 9th 2007 3:01AM

Oh for FUCK'S SAKE! Who much more do they have to do to it that takes a whole fucking year?

Poisoned Al @ May 9th 2007 3:02AM

HOW much more. That'll teach me to fire off comments before reading them :P

Dansk @ May 9th 2007 6:58AM

Looks like i wont need to upgrade my pc so soon :)

Kevin @ May 9th 2007 7:09AM

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

greatslack @ May 9th 2007 7:56AM

The game was playable enough a year ago that they could let Robin Williams play it without breaking it, so what the hell are they adding on thats going to take another year?

Kevin @ May 9th 2007 7:41AM

*UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE*
They said that it won't be till Q4 of 2008 if not Q1 of 2009. No spore till at least October, 2008.

Jake @ May 9th 2007 9:00AM

You can't really compare this to the SIMS to make it sound like more people will buy it. It is an alien creator mmo. It isn't going to appeal to casuals the way sims did. Seriously.

sheppy @ May 9th 2007 9:59AM

And this is why I don't follow release dates or hang on every word about a game I'm happy about. I just let most of the news roll right on by and then, when I see it releases in a month, I go back to find out everything I missed... if I want to spoil the suprise. I'm excited for Spore but literally haven't looked at it in a least 10 months. I can wait. Not like there are no other games coming out.

Dr. Nooooooooo @ May 9th 2007 10:30AM

Actually, Greatslack, I think Robin Williams DID break it, it crashed.

stunted @ May 9th 2007 11:56AM

I can't believe that so many of you are complaining. Spore is a complex game. If you want the game's simulation of evolutiont o be even halfway decent, you'd better be prepared for the developers to spend a lot of time on it.

And Will Wright is apparently a meticulous designer. He's not some Eastern European developer who rushes crap out.

As for being a "niche game" without popular appeal, we'll just see about that. The amount of mainstream media attention it has been getting is pretty impressive, and the game itself looks like it'll be easy for a novice to pick up and enjoy. I'll go out on a limb and say that it will do as well as The Sims.