The latest “Harry Potter” game has gone on something of a magical mystery tour.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the penultimate installment of the wildly successful series of fantasy games inspired by J.K. Rowling’s novels, will appear early next summer, according to game publisher and distributor Electronic Arts, instead of November as originally planned.

EA didn’t give a reason for the delay, but movie maker Warner Bros. had pushed back the film version of the novel to next July 17. Lately, game versions of movies have debuted about the time of the movie releases to help boost the games’ initial sales.

But when there’s a hiccup involving major game titles, the publisher can feel it. EA’s stock value dipped somewhat following announcement of the delay, because like the book, the game probably will be a best-seller when it comes out. (”HBP” is expected for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo’s Wii and DS, Xbox 360, Windows and Mac platforms.) The November release date would have put “Half-Blood Prince” in the thick of the holiday shopping season, and about $120 million in revenue was expected as a result, market analysts say.

Summer sales should be good, too, though. After all, pretty much anything with Harry’s name on it is gold these days.