During the conference call that’s been making several headlines in the last few days, EA CEO John Riccitiello gave an update regarding the release of Will Wright’s latest masterpiece.

The universe-sim known as Spore has been delayed numerous times since Wright unveiled it during his GDC speech back in March 2005 but is now set for a pre-holiday ‘08 release. “It’s going to be before the holidays,” Riccitiello promised. But when comes to a more exact date, Riccitiello said: “We’re not announcing dates for any of our titles. We will tell you it’s gonna be before the holidays.”

This comes after analyst Michael Hickey predicted earlier in the week that Spore would be delayed to fall/winter after EA’s recent share under-performance. “Additional share pressure could be coming from potential high profile product delays including Spore, which we now expect in [the second half of 2008], versus management guidance for March/April,” Hickey said.

[See also: Spore gallery]