Perhaps Spore gets 8s because it takes from a lot of games but suck on each of the stages compared to the actual game.

Most developers are playing pretty safe, so even if they wont make a huge profit, they will break at least even in the longrun. Shore, there will be bombs to but when was this industry flop-free? The truth is that most big companies are going for the big bucks ( EA, Sony, MS, AB etc.) and they will get it, because they have the budget for it. If some smaller one wont resist nobody will care, because even them will have the chance to change their publisher...

So yeah, the HD market is pretty secured in my eyes, and with the big titles heaving insane first week sales, breaking even and making a profit in the first couple of days, IMO the HD market has an even more secure place then the often leg-based Wii market :)

This, SPORE is possibly the best game I ever played (even dethrowning Deus Ex). The only "real" complaint reviewers have against Spore is that the early stages aren't deep, but what they don't understand is that it is supposed to be like that because those stages are tutorials and training grounds, and only a setting/motto for the space stage (where the game truly begins). No doubt Spore will still alot of GOTY awards.

EA is probably the last publisher to not make a profit this holiday. They know PC is where the most rentable business exists.

@ shio, EA must earn so much money from FIFA every year, is sees many million sales on many platforms

The big ones will survive, the small ones will either join Nintendo and start supporting the Wii decently, or be eaten alive.

This should be interesting.

It's one of their biggest franchises, only behind The Sims and soon-to-be Spore.

They hope, have they given any shipment figures?