March 2018
@yurigreger Darkspore was an online only game, sadly. And even when you had physical copies, you bought the license to play the game. You did not actually own its content, you could not modified it and so on. I avoid games that have no SP, as at some point the servers will be closed and access to the MP will be gone forever.
The same thing is true for any online platform (Steam, uPlay, GOG, MS Store, Google Play Store or iTunes). You do not own the games, you get the right to play them. Basically rent them. The only one service that allows you to backup the games is GOG. But that is not for everyone, as their bread and butter are the old games.
The whole situation is due to the legislation not cathcing up with the modern technologies. IF the frigging politicians would give a damn and put in place the laws and rules to regulate the software sales, then this kind of situation would be avoided.
I do not work for EA and i am not associated with the company in any way. I am a player just like you, trying to help wherever i can.I will not answer to any unsolicited PM.
July 2018
Sadly tis true, EA has us by the balls on this one. "EA grants you a personal, limited, non-exclusive license to install and use the Application for your personal, noncommercial use solely as set forth in this License and any accompanying documentation." -A quote from their EULA that we sign upon purchase/"ownership" of said EA products. So yeah, in the end it wouldn't hold up even if you took it to court. So all in all gotta suck it up and move on. I hate it too but it's right there in black and white. Welcome to the future, where we don't own games, we just borrow them.
February 2019
Its for reasons like these that I won't even bat an eye at signing a paper to end EA and enforce user rights. To anyone reading this please feel free to take EA to court, you will win. As the laws regarding Selling product is VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD in all countries. EA is breaking a law as they have done countless times with this action. It is your right as a consumer to everything you were promised and what was implied at purchase was a copy that all youd have to do is download, not something that required EA to hold our hand. For most of the games they run single player is more than perfect offline but they choose to sidestep us having the game permanently by making it an online requirement; initially for verification authentication purposes only! This is them changing what they said and hoping nobody takes them down over it.
If your in Canada like me
"Consumers may contact the Competition Bureau to file a complaint or obtain additional information. When the matter relates to labeling or advertising of food, contact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. You may also contact your provincial or territorial consumer affairs office."
If you'r in the U.S.A You need to contact the FTC
https://www.wikihow.com/Report-False-Advertising heres a guide about that process.
Keep in mind most cases like these you don't have to upfront a lawyer, instead one from the FTC or CB will assign one to the case, which the only do during cases they know they will win such as this.
Fact of the matter is that is EA should have an option to still download and play offline, and it doesn't take anything to keep a file like that around. Their so-called costs are BS until they start showing proof. with cold hard numbers; and not just what they want to show us.
February 2019
You should be making the Games into discs like they should have been for such a small game in the first place, and you should offer anyone who bought the damn thing to receive a copy if they apply for it by a date set 1-2yrs later. That would be the professional response.
March 2019
There is a reason I have hardly ever played Origin games, refuse to buy battlefield and other than to play with friends, refuse to buy GTA or really any single EA game. Its because of Darkspore. Like many, I purchased it when it first came out. I played it alot and got to the final levels which were originally not that hard until EA released an update to "make them harder so that we can enjoy more rewards" and the game tanked because the final levels were so DAMN difficult that unless you had top legendary gear you were screwed by the lowliest of mobs.
This had the effect to naturally cause the games player base to tank drastically. What is the point of playing a game that was literally designed to be too hard to beat. I honestly think they didn't even beta the final levels for accurate difficulty rating because it was insane. That said, there is absolutely NO reason they didn't simply apply a lan game patch and remove the DRM. Ridiculous honestly. To top it off, they refuse to allow modding or anything else to the game as they didn't release any support. This essentially means that nobody else can pick up there slack and make the game playable.
Anyone talking about how if you talked to EA at the time of closure you would get a refund makes a pretty good joke. EA giving refunds? Ha! Why when they can get away with literally stealing something from you.
In case you were wondering, purchasing a game doesn't give you the right to OWN the intellectual property of that game. However it DOES give you the right to owning the GAME its self. Nobody buys a car so they can own the intellectual rights to its creation, however buying it DOES make them the OWNER of said vehicle and nobody is allowed to take that away from them without due reason cause and the law backing them up. I think that EA simply is attempting to get away with a little loop hole where they abuse the lack of laws governing the internet so that they can get away with theft.
Funny tho, if someone were to say, idk. Download an illegal copy of any EA game they would bring the lawsuit hammer down on those parties. But god forbid you demand the rights to something you bought.
Im in shock really how EA stays afloat at all right now with the absurd things they do and release. I would encourage everyone to boycott further EA releases of any kind but I know the sheep buy anything with a number attached to it now-a-days and cannot remember the times when people and companies held mutual respect for one another.
Last time I pay EA for something I want.
March 2019
April 2019
It is really disappointing that the shut down a game that people paid for without any sort of compensation. I have games I paid for 30 years ago that I can play any time I want... Yet Darkspore sits here on my Origin account greyed out saying 'No longer available on Origin'. Why not? I paid for it. Why wasn't it patched for offline play? I only ever played with others in multiplay a handful of times anyways... It's just extremely irritating that every time I log into Origin that I am reminded that I paid for a game that I no longer have access to. I know I can hide it, pretend I never got ripped off. But it's the principal of the whole thing...
April 2019
April 2019
Well yes, it's sad that they close "service" games off. But here is the thing, they are being sold as goods, with one time purchased license to access said goods virtually. They ARE NOT being sold as service (perpetually recurring cost). So in case of Darkspore, even if EA wrote that the license is "limited" (lets not even go into the whole limited part, since what is limited, how is it limited and so on..). Also about EAs EULA "EULAs are not laws but are subject to laws. And corporations do not possess law-making powers." -Delicieuxz
So as the game was bought, customer received a license to a good which they own. EA removed access to the server that the bought good runs on thus taking the bought item back, without refund.
Game classified as goods by the Worlds Intellectual Property Organization:
https://www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/nclpub/en/fr/20190101/hierarchy/class-9/
as to reiterate: If you buy a car from someone and later that someone sneaks in and takes the car back is that not stealing? So how is EA shutting down Darkspore servers and not offering refund not stealing?
June 2021
I'm honestly pretty pissed too, I talked to EA about this and they offered me a discount, like what? I don't want a discount I want my money back. They don't care about anyone here when there's an issue people are STILL complaining about and it's tiring that companies like EA don't listen to their userbase, they only want money. EA is a faulty company and so are their services.