Spore expected to sell 3-5 million in 2008

Although most people seem to agree that there's a healthy anticipation building around the forthcoming Will Wright project, Spore, there's also some feeling that its publisher Electronic Arts must manage expectation about its performance and appeal.

A range of analysts polled by The Street provided sales estimates to the end of this year of between 3 and 5 million units, and a healthy revenue target of around USD 250 million.

But there's some scepticism as to whether or not Spore can capture the imagination of the public in the same way that The Sims did - a franchise which has sold 98 million units to date and the brand to which Spore might be seen by some investors as a natural successor.

"I think Spore will do at least 3 million units as a packaged product, and if it's as good as it looks, it has the potential to do twice that," said Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter.

And the simExchange is currently predicting that the PC and as-yet-unannounced DS editions of the game could combine for 7.5 million units in its lifetime, while its analyst Jesse Divnich believes it could fall "victim to the expectations that EA has set up for the title."

Meanwhile Arvind Bhatia, from Sterne, Agee & Lynch added: "The Sims is a billion-dollar plus franchise," he said. "If Spore does half of what Sims does, it will be a great success."

Spore is set for release on the PC and mobile on September 5 in the UK. Further editions of the game have not yet been confirmed.