Despite a recent analyst projection that Spore will not be released until the coming fall or winter months, EA declined to give a specific release time frame for the title during today's analyst and press financial conference call.

The company did, however, state that the game will be released this year. "We're not announcing dates for any of our titles. We will tell you it's gonna be before the holidays," said EA CEO John Riccitiello in the call, which is ongoing at time of writing. "We're very, very bullish."

Riccitiello believes Spore will be what EA calls a "breakaway title." This comes after the company lamented its lack of internally-developed breakaway titles last year.

"I've personally played the software and it is very impressive," said Riccitiello today.