The Electronic Arts Inc has delayed the release of the latest Harry Potter video game until next summer. The game was expected to raise the earnings and revenue this fiscal year. The “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” game had to be postponed by EA since the movie with the same name was postponed from November 2008 by Warner Bros Pictures. The shares of EA fell 3% after they announced on Monday they will delay the release of the most popular video game among children.

EA stated that the release of the game was expected to get a $120 million earning and 13 cents a share in profit in its current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2009, before the release of the movie and the game.

Still, analysts see a full-year revenue of $5.1 billion and that the $120 million in revenue also implied sales of 4 million units of the game, which would have made “Harry Potter” an important title at EA. Arvind Bhatia, analyst, added that the market might have taken into consideration the effects of the delay, since the movie will be released on August 15.

Bhatia told Reuters that he didn’t “think it will change the revenue and (profit) that they will generate from this title. It takes numbers out of this year essentially and put them into next year, so this year goes down slightly."


Jeff Brown, a spokesman for EA, stated that the company will update its guidance when it will report quarterly results in October. When the game will be out on the market, it will available for Nintendo’s Wii, Sony Corp’s, Play Station 3 and Xbox 360.