Darkspore Gone Forever Due to Abandoned DRM - UPDATED

Cognimancer

Imperial Intelligence
Jun 13, 2012
1,906
0
0
Darkspore Gone Forever Due to Abandoned DRM - UPDATED



Server-side bugs have rendered Darkspore unplayable for the foreseeable future - even in singleplayer.

When Darkspore launched in 2011, it brought with it a grim harbinger of things to come: always-online DRM. Though EA claimed the mandatory server connection wasn't DRM and was just "part of the experience," the fact remained that the game couldn't be played without a steady connection. One of the many concerns with this "feature" was that players' ownership of the game was entirely dependent on the life of EA's servers. That fear was recently validated, as a series of bugs on EA's end have rendered the game unplayable, with no fixes planned.

Darkspore has been plagued by a number of bugs that prevented players from logging in, including one notable server issue that broke the game for over a week before a server-side fix allowed customers to play their game again. These bugs have been popping up ever since the original release, but the latest (Error 3) looks like it could be around for a lot longer than a week.

An announcement on the official forums seals the game's coffin: "Darkspore is no longer developed. It is for almost all intents & purposes an abandoned title ... Error 73003 has gone unfixed & remains an issue. Error Code 3 has arisen for the majority/all & remains an issue."

Steam has pulled Darkspore from its store, though at time of writing EA is still selling it on Origin.

Source: GameTrailers [http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/55519/darkspore-delisted-from-steam-plagued-with-game-breaking-issues]

UPDATE: EA has apparently changed its mind on Darkspore and updated the message leading into the forums to pledge continued support for the game. "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."

Permalink
 

Da Orky Man

Yeah, that's me
Apr 24, 2011
2,107
0
0
And so it has come to this. The Age of Retro Gaming is over. The time of the DRM has come.
 

zidine100

New member
Mar 19, 2009
1,016
0
0
Oh look "Error 3" what a great error message.

a great way to cover up the fact that we pulled the servers without telling anyone.

Unless you give us a reason, not just a random number, then thats what im going to assume.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
6,651
0
0
And this is what you can expect from every always-on game with a single player aspect. So go ahead and try to defend it without looking like a corporate tool.
 

CriticalMiss

New member
Jan 18, 2013
2,024
0
0
Maybe not being able to play it is part of the experience? And I'm not entirely suprised that EA have a hand in this and are even still selling it.
 

Imre Csete

Original Character, Do Not Steal
Jul 8, 2010
785
0
0
It's our fault folks, we resisted the digital future so hard, they killed this game, so now we'd know what we lost. If only we hadn't resist change... :(

Edit: Sorry guys, didn't know this is one of them sites you have to put /sarcasm at the end. I frequent the BSN, my bad. :p
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

Doom needs Yoghurt, Badly
Dec 12, 2009
9,732
0
0
CriticalMiss said:
Maybe not being able to play it is part of the experience? And I'm not entirely suprised that EA have a hand in this and are even still selling it.
That last part HAS to be illegal.
Selling a game that is literally unplayable? and the makers even stating so?
 

Zeckt

New member
Nov 10, 2010
1,085
0
0
I think this game was on sale at steam not but a month ago, what a joke they pull it a month after!
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

Doom needs Yoghurt, Badly
Dec 12, 2009
9,732
0
0
Imre Csete said:
It's our fault folks, we resisted the digital future so hard, they killed this game, so now we'd know what we lost. If only we hadn't resist change... :(
Oh don't feed us that, this was going to happen from the second the game was released thanks to the DRM.
There is a reason why Older Games have a MUCH longer self-life, they don't need a massive server room in order to be played by anyone, single player or not.
 

Vault Citizen

New member
May 8, 2008
1,703
0
0
Seriously EA even if you were justified in the always online rubbish there is no way that you can justify selling a game that you know very well to be broken.
 

kuolonen

New member
Nov 19, 2009
290
0
0
Just had to check out of curiosity, holy shit. This game was released April 26th of 2011! Bit over 2 years worth of playing time, then gone, BAM.
2 years.

Man, the Syrian war has lasted longer than this game thanks to always online.
 

Max_imus

New member
Jul 8, 2010
87
0
0
*Channeling Alfred in The Dark Knight*
"I'm not going to say I told you so.
But I bloody told you so."


Yeah, I don't think anybody is surprised by this. Even if it's just a relatively obscure game. I mean, if it was one of their AAA blockbusters they'd probably scramble to fix it. So what this means is that if a game with DRM like this isn't successful enough and anything on their end breaks, tough luck, it's just not worth fixing for them.

20 years from now I'll tell my kids about how we used to be able to pop in a CD of some obscure, 10-year old game and just play it.

And they'll probably ask me if I've already taken my meds today....
 

viggih7

New member
Mar 31, 2009
67
0
0
"a grim harbinger of things to come"?

Looks like EA is

*Sunglasses*

Assuming direct control
 

Xan Krieger

Completely insane
Feb 11, 2009
2,918
0
0
Every time a company says it's game needs to be always online I fully expect "Remember Darkspore" to be the cry of all gamers as a reminder of what the eventual result of always online is. Also Origin is still selling it? Even though they know for a fact it doesn't work? Only EA is capable of such dickery.
 

Maurice Harding

New member
Aug 2, 2012
9
0
0
"Server-side bugs have rendered Darkspore unplayable for the foreseeable future - even in singleplayer."

the future of cloud gaming
 

Shoggoth2588

New member
Aug 31, 2009
10,250
0
0
Cognimancer said:
Steam has pulled Darkspore from its store, though at time of writing EA is still selling it on Origin.
Oh EA, you haven't really changed at all, have you?

---

This sounds unfortunate...I have no idea what the game is about or even how many people are fans but at least we can point to something like this and say "This is why XBone wouldn't have worked". Can't even play Single Player anymore...damn shame. The Virtual Boy died outright but I can't still play (and annoy people with my love of) Teleroboxer.

Da Orky Man said:
And so it has come to this. The Age of Retro Gaming is over. The time of the DRM has come.
Retro Gaming will never truly die until the consoles and carts themselves do.
 

Phrozenflame500

New member
Dec 26, 2012
1,080
0
0
Cognimancer said:
Darkspore Now Requires a Third-Party Crack To Play
Fixed it for you. Remember folks: cracking is 100% legal as long as you own a legal copy and didn't pirate it like a bad boy.
 

LunaticPanda

New member
Sep 12, 2011
28
0
0
"Error 73003 has gone unfixed & remains an issue. Error Code 3 has arisen for all & remains an issue."
This is possibly one of the most Sci-Fi lines reality has ever produced.