EA Limits Spore Owners to One Account Per Copy, Manual Misprint Leads to Controversy

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Spore publisher Electronic Arts has confirmed that legitimate buyers of Maxis' celebrated PC evolution game can only create one online account per copy, sparking outrage in households with more than one player.

Though the game's manual clearly states that "you may have multiple Spore accounts for each installation of the game," EA representative Violet confirmed "that section in the manual was a misprint" on the title's official forum.

One of the game's major selling points, a Spore account allows players to access the game's online functionality and Sporepedia, allowing them to share creations online and automatically populate the in-game universe with new lifeforms.

"There is one Spore registration/account per game/serial code so you are correct in that you cannot make multiple accounts at this time," Violet explained, noting that the misprint would be corrected in future manual printings. "I have sent your guys' feedback to the game team though since I can understand the desire to share a game on a system that you entire family uses."

While more than one user can certainly play Spore under that sole online account, many have expressed frustration that they must share their account with others, such as wives, girlfriends and children. The game is also playable offline, though when selecting that option in-game, players are warned that "many features of Spore will be unavailable when playing offline."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 12, 2008 7:53 AM

    These peoples' children are clearly pirates and should have to pay for their own copies.

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