Darkspore will close for good next week

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Darkspore

The announcement of Darkspore's imminent, permanent shutdown was actually made in December, but, tellingly, nobody noticed. But with just one week until the curtains come down for good, the word is starting to get out, and on the off-chance that any of you are still playing it, I thought you might like to know.

Darkspore, an action-RPG loosely based on the creature editor used in the 2008 Maxis game Spore, hasn't been spoken of around these parts since 2011. In fact, the last thing we wrote about it was a piece on games that require an always-on connection to remote servers. “Gamers and the press will speak up in favor of keeping games we paid for playable,” it concludes. “The question remains, though: Will developers and publishers listen?”

It's a question that's been answered in the negative many times previously, but as a matter of principle it's still annoying when it happens. In the case of Darkspore, however, I have to suspect that its loss won't be overly lamented.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.