Officials from THQ have confirmed that the company will no longer be publishing a version of
WWE SmackDown! vs Raw 2007 for the PlayStation 3 this year, following previous reports indicating that a PS3 SKU of the game was in development.
Although no reason was given for the move, it was defined as a delay rather than a cancellation, although to as far back as “late 2007” – presumably around the time that
WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 would be released. The game is now scheduled only for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and PSP this November.
The news has been perceived by some online observers as somewhat of an embarrassment for Sony, who has often previously been forced to counter suggestions that the PlayStation 3 is difficult to develop for. However, the assumption being made by many in this case is that THQ's estimate of the installed userbase would not justify the time and money needed to get a PlayStation 3 version of the game ready this year.
The rumors of the game's delay began on the German THQ website, with a posting made by one of the site forum’s official administrators. The unconfirmed suggestion given was that progress on the PlayStation 3 version of the game, which was recently demonstrated to press on the Xbox 360, was well behind the other versions, and that THQ did not want to divert further resources away from the other versions.
