Is NFS Carbon redeemable on Origin?

[Lunelli_98]

Please read this other thread:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Other-Need-for-Speed-Games/Activating-NFS-Carbon-on-Origin/m-p/6927897#M29...

Weird to say the least. Can someone explain this?

Thanks

[Cantiras · Accepted solution]

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@Lunelli_98 wrote:

Please read this other thread:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Other-Need-for-Speed-Games/Activating-NFS-Carbon-on-Origin/m-p/6927897#M29...

Weird to say the least. Can someone explain this?

Thanks

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Different EA Help advisors have given me different explanations as to why certain older EA games on disc can no longer be redeemed to Origin. I have been told that EA Advisors have run out of Origin-compatible keys for these older games (but no explanation as to why someone at EA can't generate a new batch of a few more compatible keys so that EA customers who already own the PC editions of these games can redeem them on Origin); I have also been told that EA Advisors used to have a tool to convert the CD/DVD keys for these games into Origin-compatible keys, but that EA Help no longer has access to that software tool (I've never known a company to completely get rid of an internal business software tool even when it is phased out of general day-to-day office use if there is no replacement for that business software tool in place, but no explanation was provided as to why no one at EA has administrative access to this tool any longer).

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@Lunelli_98 wrote:

Yeah, I have bothered them a lot of times about it. Not only for NFS Carbon, but games such as Most Wanted 2005, bf1942 (only expansions packs), Bf Vietnam (2004) Nfs Underground 1 % 2 and so on.

I do think they have a digital version of Carbon "available" but maintaining it online might cost some and we know how EA can be about that. Cof cof BfV

Hope some day we get the chance of getting it in Origin 

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Need for Speed Underground, Need for Speed Underground 2, Need for Speed Most Wanted (2005), Battlefield 1942 - The Road to Rome, Battlefield 1942 - Secret Weapons of WWII, and Battlefield Vietnam were never available for download from EA, so there is no way EA Help could add these to your Origin library unless EA makes them available for download at some point in the future.

As for Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition, since it was was briefly sold on Origin (and was sold as a direct download for a few years on EA Store prior to the existence of Origin), there isn't a legitimate reason why you shouldn't be able to redeem it (the standard edition of Carbon was never available for download though). Some of us have Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition in our Origin libraries and can still download it.

[CyrisTM]

No it's not, at least not anymore. Trust me, i've contacted EA support 50 times. All they say is they have no option to add NFS carbon in our library, it's been some months since i last asked, but it's most likely the same situation

[Lunelli_98]

@CyrisTM 

Yeah, I have bothered them a lot of times about it. Not only for NFS Carbon, but games such as Most Wanted 2005, bf1942 (only expansions packs), Bf Vietnam (2004) Nfs Underground 1 % 2 and so on.

I do think they have a digital version of Carbon "available" but maintaining it online might cost some and we know how EA can be about that. Cof cof BfV

Hope some day we get the chance of getting it in Origin 

[Cantiras · Accepted solution]

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@Lunelli_98 wrote:

Please read this other thread:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Other-Need-for-Speed-Games/Activating-NFS-Carbon-on-Origin/m-p/6927897#M29...

Weird to say the least. Can someone explain this?

Thanks

---

Different EA Help advisors have given me different explanations as to why certain older EA games on disc can no longer be redeemed to Origin. I have been told that EA Advisors have run out of Origin-compatible keys for these older games (but no explanation as to why someone at EA can't generate a new batch of a few more compatible keys so that EA customers who already own the PC editions of these games can redeem them on Origin); I have also been told that EA Advisors used to have a tool to convert the CD/DVD keys for these games into Origin-compatible keys, but that EA Help no longer has access to that software tool (I've never known a company to completely get rid of an internal business software tool even when it is phased out of general day-to-day office use if there is no replacement for that business software tool in place, but no explanation was provided as to why no one at EA has administrative access to this tool any longer).

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@Lunelli_98 wrote:

Yeah, I have bothered them a lot of times about it. Not only for NFS Carbon, but games such as Most Wanted 2005, bf1942 (only expansions packs), Bf Vietnam (2004) Nfs Underground 1 % 2 and so on.

I do think they have a digital version of Carbon "available" but maintaining it online might cost some and we know how EA can be about that. Cof cof BfV

Hope some day we get the chance of getting it in Origin 

---

Need for Speed Underground, Need for Speed Underground 2, Need for Speed Most Wanted (2005), Battlefield 1942 - The Road to Rome, Battlefield 1942 - Secret Weapons of WWII, and Battlefield Vietnam were never available for download from EA, so there is no way EA Help could add these to your Origin library unless EA makes them available for download at some point in the future.

As for Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition, since it was was briefly sold on Origin (and was sold as a direct download for a few years on EA Store prior to the existence of Origin), there isn't a legitimate reason why you shouldn't be able to redeem it (the standard edition of Carbon was never available for download though). Some of us have Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition in our Origin libraries and can still download it.

[Cantiras]

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@CyrisTM wrote:

No it's not, at least not anymore. Trust me, i've contacted EA support 50 times. All they say is they have no option to add NFS carbon in our library, it's been some months since i last asked, but it's most likely the same situation

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I bought Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition on EA Store and fortunately the game was transferred to my Origin account when Origin replaced EA Store, but I haven't had luck redeeming The Godfather, so I know exactly how you feel; I actually contacted EA Help when it was still possible for them to redeem a disc key for the The Godfather to an Origin account, but the EA Help advisor who was assigned to my support ticket didn't know how to do it (it was a comedy of errors that included him creating a separate Pogo.com account for me for some reason while attempting to redeem the game), and unfortunately I assumed it just wasn't possible. I later heard from a few people who were fortunate enough to encounter EA Help advisors who knew how to redeem the disc keys for The Godfather during the same time frame I had tried to get mine redeemed, but by the time I found this out and contacted EA Help again about the unresolved issue, it was too late. Most people with disc copies of the game probably ended up in the same boat I did. Contacting EA Help shouldn't be a game of roulette. The quality can really vary between advisors, and EA seems to invest less and less in their training. On average, contacting EA Help is currently probably about on par with consulting a Magic 8-Ball.

I understand that licensing agreements have ended for some of the IP. However, that should not prevent EA customers who already own these titles on disc from being able to redeem them to Origin. The games and DLC still exist on EA's servers. Those EA customers who were able to get them redeemed to their accounts can still download them via Origin (e.g. I can still download Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition and the Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition Bonus DVD content via Origin). There is no good reason why access shouldn't be extended to other EA customers who already own the PC editions of these games. I think this may well have more to do with EA thinking that by discontinuing redemption of these older titles, it will reduce its support footprint since several of the older games require some degree of troubleshooting (although these troubleshooting hurdles are typically minor affairs for the average PC gamer).

I've already have one game (Need for Speed World) in my library which is no longer able to be downloaded (although Soapbox Race World lives on); I do not look forward to the future a decade or so from now when EA begins phasing out support for its games that have always-online requirements (e.g. Need for Speed 2015).

[CyrisTM]

@CantirasVery well written post. I wish i could upvote it 100 times.

Yeah regarding the magic 8-ball situation, i had similar situations regarding need for speed pro street. i had an advisor who was really rude and was basically telling me that i should buy the newest titles to play need for speed, some others say "Sorry, but i cannot add this X title for you, as the game is not available on the store" But I've already seen from a few sites that you can contact EA support to redeem pro street, so after 2 times. I was like... I shall just keep trying to see if it depends on the advisor, and i was right, after 5 tries an advisor added it in. I tried battlefield 2 & 2142, and it was also similar situations as pro street, but after some time it worked

However with carbon, I guess that's where it's just not possible to add for now. Reading your post, it sucks if EA got rid of the tool for converting Retail keys to Origin. I really, really wish i could redeem carbon, it's my favorite NFS and one of my favorities games ever. It's just weird that they cannot just make the old games redeemable on origin, as long you have proof of ownership or CD-key. I could redeem Battlefield 1942 cd key, where it was all numbers just fine normally, but carbon... no. It sucks

If any EA community representatives read this, please submit the feedback. There's still a lot of people who are interested in old games and would love to redeem it on origin. it doesn't make sense i can redeem battlefield 1942 just fine, but need for speed carbon, pro street & battlefield 2 doesn't work

[Cantiras]

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@CyrisTM wrote:

Yeah regarding the magic 8-ball situation, i had similar situations regarding need for speed pro street. i had an advisor who was really rude and was basically telling me that i should buy the newest titles to play need for speed, some others say "Sorry, but i cannot add this X title for you, as the game is not available on the store" But I've already seen from a few sites that you can contact EA support to redeem pro street, so after 2 times. I was like... I shall just keep trying to see if it depends on the advisor, and i was right, after 5 tries an advisor added it in. I tried battlefield 2 & 2142, and it was also similar situations as pro street, but after some time it worked

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I can relate. I had an issue redeeming one of my older EA games in the Origin client (via the "Redeem product code..." menu option) this January. I verified that I entered the key correctly, and tried it both without and with hyphens, but it would not work. So I contacted EA Help. I was told the game was no longer redeemable due to support for the game having been sunset. Half an hour later, I decided to try https://myaccount.ea.com/cp-ui/redemption/index just to be certain, and the key redeemed via that entry method. It really is a game of redemption roulette.

Most of my conversations with EA Help more of less resemble https://youtu.be/m_erXm5uXRs, and talking with EA Help sometimes makes me want to pull an Al Pacino- https://youtu.be/cqhLO3SRyXU. I think EA Help exists more so to exhaust customers into giving up than it does to actually help them.

About 8-10 months ago I wanted to review the chat transcripts of some of my past support tickets. I don't know if it's just me experiencing this, or if it affects others as well, but I can no longer view old support ticket chat transcripts. If I go to https://help.ea.com/en/my-cases/, the list only shows 10 of my 12 support tickets (page 2 of my case history is blank). If I click on the individual cases, only one or two of the most recent cases will let me review the chat transcripts (when any work at all; as of this minute none are working). If I click on any of the other cases, I see a web page throbber, and it just cycles and cycles. Sometimes it eventually stops and I'm directed to this error message. This has been going on for months now (and predates coronavirus-related constraints). Have you tried reviewing some your older support chat transcripts recently?

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@CyrisTM wrote:

However with carbon, I guess that's where it's just not possible to add for now. Reading your post, it sucks if EA got rid of the tool for converting Retail keys to Origin. I really, really wish i could redeem carbon, it's my favorite NFS and one of my favorities games ever. It's just weird that they cannot just make the old games redeemable on origin, as long you have proof of ownership or CD-key. I could redeem Battlefield 1942 cd key, where it was all numbers just fine normally, but carbon... no. It sucks

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I have a theory...

It's purely speculation on my part, but maybe digital releases prior to 2007 weren't coded to accept CD/DVD keys.

Even though Battlefront 1942 was originally released on CD in September 2002, it wasn't released for download until 2012 in celebration of Battlefield 1942's tenth anniversary. E.g. "Q: Can I play online against players who have the original disc-based version? A: Unfortunately, no. This Origin digital download version can only be played against other players who are using the same version . . . Q: What are the differences between this version and the original disc-based version of Battlefield 1942? A: ...We have done some under the hood work to make this game from 2002 work as a digital download title on Origin."

While Battlefield 2 was originally released on CD in 2005, the base game was only available for direct download as part of the Complete Collection (EA Store, Origin), and the Complete Collection wasn't released until 2007. The standalone base game could be ordered from EA Store, but it was on disc, not available via direct download (EA Store used to sell physical copies in additional to direct downloads; Origin did as well for a brief time). What doesn't quite make sense to me is that EA Help supposedly can't/won't redeem the Special Forces, Euro Force, and Armored Fury packs, as those are part of the Complete Collection as well. The digital versions of the expansion packs were available individually (and all three were released digitally prior to 2007), so a possible explanation is that the digital version of the Complete Collection is more of a bundle rather than a separate entity, and therefore bundles the individual (pre-2007) digital expansion packs that had already been available along with the base game, the latter of which hadn't been available digitally until the Complete Collection was released in 2007.

This doesn't quite explain Battlefield 2142, since I believe the base game was available for download since its release in late 2006, unless the 2008 digital Deluxe Edition supplanted the original 2006 digital release of the base game. But otherwise, pre-2007 digital releases not being coded to accept CD/DVD keys would explain why Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition, The Godfather, and The Rise of the Witch-king expansion pack for The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II could only be redeemed via EA Help, but not via the Origin client or http://activate.ea.com/gameactivation.do. However, it also doesn't explain the issue you had with NFS ProStreet, unless it's the same issue I ran into, where the Origin client couldn't redeem the key but https://myaccount.ea.com/cp-ui/redemption/index could have.

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@CyrisTM wrote:

If any EA community representatives read this, please submit the feedback. There's still a lot of people who are interested in old games and would love to redeem it on origin.

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Isn't "I will pass your feedback on to the team" code for "there is nothing I can do about it and your issue likely won't be resolved"? I.e. Our feedback will be filed in the same landfill where the excess Atari E.T. cartridges ended up.

Sadly, I get the impression that GOG cares more about preserving EA's back catalog of games than EA itself does.

[Lunelli_98]

@Cantiras 

Going back to what you said about BF 1942. You are right that it was relesead on Origin in 2012 duo to its 10th annyversary. And because of that, you can redeem it on Origin yourself without help from an advisor. Being there done that. That's why I think there is a super small chance that someday both expasions packs might get a digital version. 

Another thing that's being bothering me is about NFS Carbon. I know it is expensive to keep MP servers running. However, is it expensive as well to keep running a service that allows you to redeem the game? They have released MoH PA for free without MP support so why not do just that? Assuming they still have access to NFS Carbon digital version.

[Cantiras]

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@Lunelli_98 wrote:

Another thing that's being bothering me is about NFS Carbon. I know it is expensive to keep MP servers running. However, is it expensive as well to keep running a service that allows you to redeem the game? They have released MoH PA for free without MP support so why not do just that? Assuming they still have access to NFS Carbon digital version.

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NFS Carbon Collector's Edition is still on EA's severs. I just downloaded it (and the bonus content) last night on Origin (prior to posting) to make certain nothing had changed in that regard.

I can't come up with a good reason why you and others are no longer allowed to redeem NFS Carbon Collector's Edition, why I and others are no longer allowed to redeem The Godfather, and why people are no longer allowed to redeem The Rise of the Witch-king expansion pack for BFME II. There is a minor technical issue with NFS Carbon Collector's Edition on Origin as I mentioned in an earlier post, just as there are minor technical issues with The Godfather and numerous other older EA games, but invariably there are community provided fixes available for those issues or they are otherwise easy to resolve on your own. In my opinion, minor technical issues are not sufficient reason for those games to be buried. I am fine with EA not providing technical support for those games (beyond redeeming them), but EA should at least continue to redeem those games digitally. I'm not even asking for those games to be sold again (although that would be great, but I realize there are licensing hurdles), I'm just asking that people who already purchased the games on disc be allowed to redeem their keys for the already existent digital versions. It should be noted that EA also shuttered http://largedownloads.ea.com/pub/patches/.

In my opinion, burying these games is purely an arbitrary policy decision on EA's part (and doesn't bode well for the future of other EA games). These games still exist on EA's servers and can still be downloaded by those who managed to get them redeemed to their Origin accounts (I am certain The Godfather is still on EA's servers because I had somebody verify that they could still download it via Origin), and someone at EA should have the bureaucratic authority, system access, and know-how to redeem these games to people's accounts. But there is no way to get in touch with such a person at EA. The only official communication channels I have been able to find for EA are 1) EA Help (which I feel has proven to be limited in its knowledge, system access, and authority), 2) Answers HQ (which is predominately populated by people who aren't EA employees), and 3) EA Investor Relations (whom I'm tempted to contact at this point even though they're irrelevant to the situation).

Maybe there is hope yet for these EA titles to be resurrected, but at the same time, I'm not going to hold my breath.

[HuhllucinatioN]

I have NFS prostreet, hellgate london original CDkey and origin customer service refused to add the digital copy to me, saying garbage like the store has sunset these games, which is * because the game is in origin library it's just not purchasable.