Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey believes Electronic Arts’ The Sims 3 could sell four million units this year.

The PC title, which was originally due to launch in February, is now set to release in early June. While its predecessor launched in late 2004 and sold an estimated 3.5 million copies by the year’s end, Hickey believes The Sims 3 could top that figure by half a million copies, “benefiting from a meaningful Sims installed base and an earlier release window.”

However, he adds that these circumstances could be “offset somewhat by a demographic that may have shifted their demand towards new forms of entertainment like the Wii and DS platforms from Nintendo.”

EA has forecast that its upcoming Harry Potter release will generate $120 million during the year, which Hickey said would equate to roughly 3.2 million copies sold.

“We are less excited about the Company’s Dragon Age release, new IP with unproven market demand,” he added. “We approximate the game could sell-in 1.3 million units.”