Darkspore plagued by DRM errors, unavailable on Steam

Amid widespread complaints of issues connecting to Darkspore, the EA Maxis title has been withdrawn from sale on Steam.

PlayerAttack reports players began experiencing issues with Darkspore's DRM over a year ago.

When a player can't connect to the game's servers, they can't log in and play, and instead receive a 7300 series error code. In a thread tracking the error, a moderator who seems to have contacts at Maxis or EA said in May that there is "zero" chance of this error being fixed.

Early in June, another error, with the code number 3, began cropping up with unusual frequency. It prevents players from editing existing heroes or activating new ones, so new players cannot progress at all and veterans are stuck using their current characters. Users reported the error affected everyone, and it was believed to be server-wide.

Error 3 now seems to have been corrected, with a post from a Maxis employee stating that a back end fix had been applied but that, mysteriously, "someone here doesn't seem to want the information to be sent out".

While the action RPG still appears in searches on Steam at time of writing, trying to click through to the application page returns you to the Steam frontpage. It is, however, still available on Origin and may still be on store shelves.

We've asked EA for comment on the game's removal from Steam and the reports of ongoing issues.

A sci-fi, RPG take on the Spore formula, Darkspore released in April 2011 and rather went under the radar.