PS3 Smacked Down with WWE Smackdown delay

According to a statement made by THQ, “The next installment in our perennial SmackDown franchise is slated for release across multiple game systems this holiday. The highly anticipated WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 is scheduled to ship for Xbox 360, PSP and PlayStation 2 in November. Consistent with our goal of delivering the highest quality content across all next-gen platforms, we have decided to postpone the debut of the SmackDown series on PlayStation 3 until the holiday 2007 timeframe.”

Having the next-gen WWE title all to themselves over the holiday shopping season can only be a good thing for the 360. Meanwhile, the cause of this delay (beyond the lame ‘quality commitment’ line) could be anything.

Is THQ worried about limited sales potential for PS3? Does it seem redundant and costly to release a version on both PS2 and PS3 on the same day? Or is it really that hard to work with the PS3 hardware? Whatever the case may be, the 360 just gained another chip in the ensuing console wars.