EA's 2009 fiscal year runs from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009; that broad release time frame was not narrowed down, but the game is likely to ship this year.

At last official word, Pandemic expected the game to appear in "early 2008," though retailer listings recently hinted at another delay. Today's news was contained within financial documents released by EA.

"We wanted to time it more closely to the movie," Pandemic co-founder and president Josh Resnick said when the game was first delayed last year. "But then we realized that we don't have a movie, so we just said, 'Aww hell, let's just make the game better.'"