DRM: EA abandons Darkspore; Steam Delists it

James

James

MyGaming Alumnus
More crappy business practices from EA?

Has EA abandoned Darkspore? • News • PC • Eurogamer.net

Persistent DRM-related errors are killing Darkspore for a portion of the community. They can't log in and play the game, there's no workaround and, worryingly, there's no hope of a fix.

That's according to a moderator on the Darkspore forums who apparently has contact with the "right person", presumably at developer Maxis (story brought to light by PlayerAttack (via VG247).

Wrote Inquisitor_Laine on 2nd May 2013: "Error has gone unfixed. Likelihood of it being fixed is zero. Sorry guys & girls."
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EA does have a bad tendancy to kill online support to relatively new games for no apparent reason. Most of this is to force people to buy the latest anual releases like with the FIFA franchise.
 
Darkspore, the sci-fi action-RPG game from EA and Maxis, has recently been pulled from the Steam store. The product delisting follows months of server problems plaguing the title, resulting in an unplayable game.

Error 73003, the error that pops up that players receive when they can’t login to EA’s servers, is actually a long-standing issue that has persisted since the release of the game in 2011. At one point, new players couldn’t play the game for over nine days because of EA's server issues.

Darkspore requires an internet connection to play the game, which EA says is not intended as a DRM mechanism. Much like Diablo 3, Darkspore requires players to be online even if playing the game solo. Items and experience that are earned in the game are stored on EA’s online servers to be used in online gameplay.

Players weren't thrilled with what appeared to be online DRM back in 2011, and they’re certainly not happy that Darkspore has turned into an unplayable game thanks to it.

Recently, “Error 3” has been popping up in the game, which prevents players from saving any changes made on their heroes. It's a server-side issue and players will have to wait for it to be resolved. Though at this point, it seems like the game will never be truly fixed as it appears EA has abandoned the game long ago.

This announcement is posted on Darkspore’s official forum:

Darkspore is no longer developed. It is for almost all intents & purposes an abandoned title. If you cannot play the game & have flicked through technical issues for any fixes, then contact EA Customer Support; especially if it regards CD-Keys or refunds.
Error 73003 has gone unfixed & remains an issue.
Error Code 3 has arisen for the majority/all & remains an issue.
I will however keep the forums here as clean & tidy as possible in my spare time. Why? Well why not. If it helps anyone with minor problems, or find their way somewhere, then that's great.
I wish you all luck, no matter what path you choose with Darkspore.
~Inquisitor Laine
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Steam may have delisted the game after realizing its unplayable state. Trying to load the product page just pushes you back to the storefront. Even with all its problems, the game is still being sold on Origin.
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Source: GameTrailers

Always good to see the problem with DRM rearing its ugly head. You would've at least thought that EA would patch the game to a DRM-free state but alas... No. It's EA.

I'm so glad I didn't bother with this title. I think anyone with a lick of sense could see the inevitable direction it was headed in.

*cough* SimCity *cough*
 
They build that crap so deep into the games that when they inevitable crap out trying to remove them is near impossible and you are just better off tossing the whole thing.
 
MOnk said:
They build that crap so deep into the games that when they inevitable crap out trying to remove them is near impossible and you are just better off tossing the whole thing.
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Yeah, you're completely right.

Makes it a bit of a risk even buying their games any more (well, the ones with these batshit DRM policies).
 
Vampothic said:
That actually sounds like fun. Never bothered with Spore - looked a little boring to me.
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I actually loved the concept of Spore but what irritated me was that the beginning stages are so short that they end up being just a glorified mini-game for the galactic stage.

It was essentially another great EA disappointment... :(
 
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