Depending on its success, Will Wright and Maxis' Spore for PC could be a candidate for paid downloadable content, EA CEO John Riccitiello said during an earnings call Tuesday.

"I would love to imagine that two years from now or a year from now the debate is whether or not we need a 'Spore' label inside of EA," Riccitiello said, envisioning a franchise as successful as The Sims, which has its own label.

He said he'd love to "be able to monetize, if you will, body parts, plant parts, car parts and planets as a way to generate incremental revenue on an installed base of several million active users."

Riccitiello is careful not to get ahead of himself. The game doesn't launch until September 7.

"But it's a little bit like pool. I'm afraid if we spend too much time setting up the second shot, we'll miss the first shot," he said.

"Right now, it's all hands on deck to make September 7 the event that matters."

Still, he admits that such speculation on paid downloadable content is worth preliminary investigation.

"[With Spore,] selling parts as we do with The Sims store online ... is incredibly obvious and we have all the technology for it," he said. "But that's really not what the overwhelming portion of our focus is on right now. It's on making that a successful launch and making sure we have the right to ask ourselves that question down the road."