Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

by SoCalGSXR
Reply

Original Post

I want a full refund for Darkspore.

[ Edited ]
★★★★★ Novice

I want a full refund.

I purchased Darkspore a few years ago, and tbh I enjoyed the game. Life has been busy, etc, so I haven't been playing it recently. I just got on to play it again and it seems Origin has removed Darkspore from their servers and it's no longer available. Not only did I like the game so much that I purchased it for myself, but I also purchased it for a friend so he'd be able to play it with me. Upon realizing that the game was no longer available, I had EA contact me via a phone call to ask them what to do in order to play the game outside of Origin (an offline mode, maybe). The person on the phone told me there is no way to play the game anymore, it's gone forever. I then asked for a refund. He told me he wouldn't give me a refund. I explained to him, very calmly, that I paid money for this game and it says on Origin that the game is yours forever as long as you have an internet connection. He still wouldn't hear me out and said he can't do anything for me. So I asked so speak to a supervisor, multiple times. He put me on hold for roughly 5-10 minutes and then came back and said he won't put me on with his supervisor. I asked him to transfer me to someone else, then - another representative, I don't care, just someone else. He said no. He said I can just call back and go through the process again. It was incredibly rude.

I want this employee fired and I want a full refund for the games I paid for and am no longer able to access.

The game has always been plagued by bugs that were never really addressed. Not only that, but EA posted an official statement letting people know (back in 2013) that they would still be selling the game, and the game would continue to be developed/supported. I'll post their official quote below. If you ask me, this seems like theft. They knew their game was having problems, even after Steam pulled it from their store, and they continued selling copies of the game, but now anyone who paid for it can't play it, and they won't issue refunds to those people.

From the EA official forums:
"Welcome to the Darkspore forums. Thanks for supporting the game," it says. "We recently resolved an issue that was causing some players to not be able to connect to the game. If you any encounter any other issues, please contact help.ea.com for customer support. We will continue to support Darkspore, so feel free to continue to discuss the game here."

Message 1 of 30 (3,413 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

EA DICE Team

@Evravon86

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for reaching out to us. It's passionate players like yourself that continue driving us to create awesome games. However, sometimes we must also make the decision to retire older games - our Service Updates page explains why we make these decisions:

 

The decisions to withdraw particular features or modes of certain EA games, or to retire online services relating to older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into our games, their features and modes almost as much as the players, and it is hard to see one retired. As games are replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the games that have been live for some time dwindles to a level – typically fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles – where it’s no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping the online services for these games up and running.

 

This page also holds information about all titles or services that have been retired. In terms of refunds, we won't be able to offer those outside of our normal refund policy.

 

Lastly, I would also like to point out that we retired the game on March 1st 2016, so we still did our best to support the game after the quote you're referring to from 2013.

 

Thanks again for reaching out to us,

Message 2 of 30 (3,362 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

★★★★★ Novice

It's still wrong. People paid money for a game that we expected to have access to (otherwise we aren't buying it, we're renting it). We paid money to buy an online, digital copy of a game, and we are no longer able to play said game. When we bought the game, there was no indication we were paying for something we'd only have temporary access to.

I've been a supporter of EA games for a very long time, now. I've purchased almost every single title you guys have released. This honestly makes me regret that, and reconsider purchasing more in the future.

If you were wondering why people pirate content - this is one of them. Although I don't condone their actions, I do understand them a bit more clearly, now.

All I can say is, I hope you guys have learned a lesson here, and I hope the rest of us have, as well. In the future, don't require games to be connected to the internet in order to play them.

Message 3 of 30 (3,347 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

★★★★ Novice

 

I'm oh so glad to be nothing more than a cash cow, with only a few *hours* of rights, to EA.

 

I know you were trying to be as PC as possible, but just be aware, you did a horrible day-1 intern-level job of it.

 

Reading your words makes it *very* plain how EA feels about its player base.

 

My Origin Access will be cancelled by me momentarily and future purchases will not be via this venue, because of your reply.

Message 4 of 30 (3,296 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

EA DICE Team

@SoCalGSXR

 

Other than a refund or bringing back the game, what else would you have liked us to do?

Message 5 of 30 (3,289 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

★★★★ Novice

You mean other than the *right* thing to do? Well, there are quite a few other, less optimal, options that could be done. For starters, even a *partial* refund should have been an option ("forever" available is what the game was marketed as. EA violated that. Which is *not* our fault.). If the almighty dollar is something EA is just not willing to part with (despite them breaking Good Faith), a permanently one-time available discount, up to the cost the buyer *actually* paid for Darkspore(sales and such could have lowered it. It wouldn't really be fair to EA to have offer someone who paid 50% a full price discount/etc option, or to the person that paid full price.) that can be applied to another game (of the buyers choosing) and/or towards some other in-game type purchase (like, for example, towards ME Andromeda's Multiplayer packages) could have been a viable option. 

 

But instead, what do we have instead?

 

The equivalent of: "Surry, no moar pew pew 4 u. Thx fur da caash."

 

People have a right to, and are beyond justified for wanting, an equitable remedy to this problem that EA, on their own, created.

 

Oh, and just for reference.. Diablo.. came out more than 20 years ago. (Darkspore however was only a *laughably short* 6 years ago.) It's still available to play. Online no less. The lesson to be learned here?

 

Sometimes doing right by your customers (the same customers you guys would like us to believe you care about oh-so-much) costs a little bit of money. 

Message 6 of 30 (3,280 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

EA DICE Team

@SoCalGSXR

 

 

Thank you for your response.

 

When we retire a game we understand that fans are disappointed. So instead, we try to accommodate fans in different ways by for example offering free games via our On the House program. We always try to give back in some way if we retire a game. 

 

I think some of the other ideas that you mentioned are great, but it's not something that I will be able to offer you.

Message 7 of 30 (3,273 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Novice

 

You see, that's the problem. You are using the wrong word.

 

We aren't *disappointed*. We are furious because we have been *stolen* from. I bought something.. and someone else took it away from me without my permission. That's theft.

 

And yes, I am aware that no, technically, this isn't the case.. rules..EULAs.. etc.. But in no uncertain terms, in no way does "disappointed" even remotely come close to being how those who bought this game feel about this. 

 

Also.. *Everyone* gets the "On the House" program. Even if they didn't buy a game that EA later on took away from them without permission.

 

You can't give everyone something and say that makes up for something bad EA then does to a group from their community.

 

Believe me, I didn't think you could offer anything in the first place. Beyond an ear.. and, hopefully a venue to forward criticism like mine, and others like mine, against garbage policies.

 

Nobody likes thieves. Nobody. EA stole from me and I have to stare at the Darkspore image every single time I log into Origin. It is justifiably infuriating.. That's how it feels. If I would have known this would have happened.. I would have physically bought a copy.. and not a digital one. Because at least then I would have... options.

 

Hence why I won't ever again. EA broke Good Faith, and likely any trust I could have for them in the future.

Message 8 of 30 (3,254 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

EA DICE Team

@SoCalGSXR

 

I understand that you're furious, but beyond providing you our reasoning behind the decision of taking down the game, there sadly isn't anything further that I can help you with at the moment.

 

I've collected your feedback in the meantime and want to thank you once more for taking the time to reach out to us.

Message 9 of 30 (3,238 Views)

Re: I want a full refund for Darkspore.

★★★ Newbie

I just installed the game from a commercial packed I opened this morning. Now I am here to see that I was basically robbed of my money. If I had realized that I would not be able to play it I would have to bought a copy. EA has with origin has been nothing but a piece of * company with bugs and problems that they do not resolve. I will make sure to look for the EA logos from now on before I purchase a game. If I see it I am leaving it on the shelf.

Message 10 of 30 (3,220 Views)