Darkspore Gone Forever Due to Abandoned DRM - UPDATED

[Scarim Coral]

Oh man I had competely forgot about this game (I didn't even knew it was out in 2011)!

This is why DRM shouldn't existed, if that game didn't had it at least some people out there would of still played the singleplayer.

 

[Oskuro]

I wonder how people will react once Steam starts doing this shit. Not if, but when, it is literally impossible for a company to support a product indefinitely. At some point some Steam titles are going to go offline, and people who bought them won't be able to play (or even install) them anymore.

 

[SweetWarmIce]

Damn it I actually started playing this again a month ago.

 

[Sushewakka]

Consumers have virtually no rights these days. It's a sad state, but they can probably get away with it for a while at least. And even then, it will be consumer outrage and not laws that work. Hell, if anyone tries to contact the authorities or file a complaint, they will be called spoiled and entitled.

Well at least they'll be able to get together to file a class-action lawsuit!

Oh, wait, that's right. STEAM made everyone give up that right with their EULA.

Fixed for accuracy.

Remember: One of the first license agreements forfeiting your right to sue was Steam's. Hope that money you saved on those games was worth it.

OT: This is the future. Relish it. Drink it in. Orwell's prophecy has come true.

Fun fact: Due to the way they work, EULAs are non-binding in Europe: No contract can force you to give up your rights.

 

[erbkaiser]

Fun fact: Due to the way they work, EULAs are non-binding in Europe: No contract can force you to give up your rights.

Not so fun fact: that's the theory, the practice is different. For example, in the EU there is a law that any purchase made online can be cancelled without cost to the buyer within 7 days, for whatever reason, and the seller is obliged to pay you back within 30 days.

The only exceptions are things like hotel rooms and consumables.

Yet try enforcing this against online game stores like Xbox Live, PSN, or Steam - no dice. They simply will refuse to cooperate with the law and nobody in Brussels seems interested to do anything about it. In fact, people who have attempted a charge back against Steam have found their entire account locked, Valve in essence stealing all their games on the service.

 

[LordMonty]

This is EA 101 leave a game boned and make your sleves look like dicks. Also i imagine they're upset that microsoft made them look even vaguely good in PR terms this is a natural response.

 

[Hungry Donner]

though at time of writing EA is still selling it on Origin.

OK this cannot possibly be legal? that's not just false advertisement, it's a fucking scam.

A friend at work was browsing the game bargin bin and found some MMO that had been shut down over a year before. He dropped it off at the customer help counter and explained it was impossible to play.

Another friend encountered the same situation, but he bought it to use as a gag gift.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Actually, that Steam one is highly unlikely. Steam has an offline mode that generally allows you to play you Stream games just fine.

What if an update bricks Steam?
Or Valve goes bust?
Or their publishing deals expire or go south (like say... Crysis 2)?
Or your Key corrupts and bricks the game (Like Company of Heroes)?

There are a whole bunch of scenarios where you lose access to a game(s) on Steam, or keep access, provided you never, ever need to repair or validate the install ever again, some of which have already happened, not all of which were fixed (thanks EA and Ubisoft!).

But people get complacent because Valve are generally better behaved than Ubisoft or EA are, that doesn't mean their system is perfect or that they'll maintain their standards forever.

 

[themilo504]

I?m really worried that one day this is going to happen to my steam library.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

This is a damn shame.

I hope that EA starts taking notes or this might be happening a lot more often with the less popular titles that don't have huge devs or publishers feverishly trying to revive the thing.

 

[Aggieknight]

And people say that online DRM is OK if you have a good broadband connection...

Idiots.

 

[Scorpid]

Stay classy EA... you assholes.

 

[geizr]

This is just BAD, BAD BUSINESS, I mean really, truly bad business. You just don't do something like this to your customers. You don't just leave them high and dry with a broken product and no recourse. But then to continue to sell a known non-functional product, that's just criminally bad business. I think a major class-action suit is in order.

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.

While you were being sarcastic, there is a significant element of truth to your statement. We, the gamers, have allowed game companies like EA to get away with the crap they do because we don't know how to just say "NO!". We act like junkies when it comes to gaming; we just have to have our fix. We're too tolerant, and that needs to just stop. We need to hold these companies more to the fire with the one single power that we have. As I have said time and again, a company hears and understands ONLY two sounds, the creak of your wallet opening and the slap of your wallet closing. All other sounds are noise to be ignored. Closing our wallets to shitty business practices like those of EA and only opening our wallets to good, or at least less anti-consumer, practices is the only power we have against these companies (aside from opening class-action suits for obviously illegitimate behavior, such as false-advertising, which would be the case here, IMO). We as gamers need to just rise up and show to these game companies with a single loud, collective SLAP of the closing wallet that we are tired of this kind of shit and just aren't going to tolerate it any more. Remember, these companies desperately want our money; they're more hooked on our money than we are on their games. That means we are the ones that truly hold the real power.

Close your wallets to EA.

 

[RJ 17]

"But seriously guys! Mandatory connections are the wave of the future! You just don't know how great it is because you won't give it a chance! I honestly don't see why you people are so opposed to needing a constant connection!" - Any MS representative...and apparently Patrice "I created AC so I'm qualified to tell you what you want and don't want" Desilets.

Translation of this story: If you bought Darkspore, you no longer own the game you paid for. And that is why there were riots in the streets - so to speak - when MS said they'd be doing this for their entire fucking console.

 

[silver wolf009]

OMG DIGITAL IS SO AWESOME!

Yeah, it's fucking amazing! If this is the future we are heading towards, I would rather stay in the past. I might not play a load of games that belong on GOG but when I want to, I don't want to find the servers have packed in.

Everytime I see YOUR avatar, I think Pikachu has a Chirstmas Tree growing out of his belly button!!

I WANT UNSEE!!

OT: Nothing I can't say that isn't repeated, so I'll just throw my voice in with the disgusted crowd, and my wallet in with the anti-EA crowd.

 

[blackrave]

So how long until C&C4 follows same route?
[yes, I'm out of my happy denial pills]

P.S. That is why I have images of all games I bought on Steam, I don't use or share them further, but they are there just in case

 

[faefrost]

Actually, that Steam one is highly unlikely. Steam has an offline mode that generally allows you to play you Stream games just fine.

What if an update bricks Steam?
Or Valve goes bust?
Or their publishing deals expire or go south (like say... Crysis 2)?
Or your Key corrupts and bricks the game (Like Company of Heroes)?

There are a whole bunch of scenarios where you lose access to a game(s) on Steam, or keep access, provided you never, ever need to repair or validate the install ever again, some of which have already happened, not all of which were fixed (thanks EA and Ubisoft!).

But people get complacent because Valve are generally better behaved than Ubisoft or EA are, that doesn't mean their system is perfect or that they'll maintain their standards forever.

If I recall correctly Valve did at one time say that if for any reason they shut down Steam, there is a mechanism designed into it to unlock the DRM requirements. I believe it would however also lock some other features, such as the ability to re download you game library.

 

[tardcore]

And this is exactly why EA will never see another penny from me. Companies if you publish with EA you are dead to me. In fact if you let EA push you into using their imbecilic always on DRM it looks like you are dead full stop.

Darkspore dead and Simcity 5 not looking much better. Any bets on how long it will be before the name Maxis joins the list of those killed by EA's stupidity and greed?