Spore now available for download

By Ellie Gibson Published 29 August, 2008

Pre-order your copy ready for release day.

There's still a week to go until it's out, but Spore is now available to download from the EA Store.

You won't be able to play it yet, but the point is the game will be all nicely pre-loaded when Spore officially launches on September 5th. Then you'll just have to wait half an hour for the game to decrypt before you can play.

The game is priced at GBP 39.99. It's only the PC version that can be downloaded, so Mac owners will have to wait.

Look out for Eurogamer's review of Spore next week.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • skillian #1 4 years ago

    Damn, it's so expensive. Anyone know where we can get this for the best price?

  • skillian #2 4 years ago

    Damn, it's so expensive. Anyone know where we can get this for the best price?

  • berelain #3 4 years ago

    in the shops, most likely.

    The EA store is a horribly overpriced digital download service, made worse since they rarely release their games via any other digital distribution services.

    The download copy certainly shouldn't cost more than the boxed copy- after all, it saves the publisher productions costs.

  • TheMoonRat #4 4 years ago

    Just £28 on amazon.co.uk delivered. Crazy price from EA.
    Edited by 2 at 29/08/08 @ 08:45

  • DFawkes #5 4 years ago

    For anyone that needs to get this early for some reason and drinks Coke, 10 points on the cokezone.co.uk rewards site gets you 20% off. You get 2 points on the small bottles and 3 on the 2ltr. Just so you know.

    I can wait though. I'd go for Moonrats suggestion above if you're sane.
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/08 @ 08:52

  • MikkyX #6 4 years ago

    FOURTY QUID FOR A F^*$(NG DOWNLOAD? Are they insane? Or I could get it, as MoonRat has said, in a nice box, with a manual, and a DVD for, er, £12 less.

    Which costs more - bandwidth or DVD + manual + box + shipping? I think I know the answer and it means they've got their pricing COMPLETELY wrong.

    Mind you, maybe Valve have given them some figures for Steam (where FM2008 is still about £25 compared to a tenner in shops, and Bioshock is still about £30 compared to £15 in shops) and EA thought they might get away with it.......

  • Chufty #7 4 years ago

    It's £25 on shopto.net and they always deliver on release day (Amazon sometimes don't).

    £40 is a ridiculous price for a PC game. I guess we pay that for console games though.

  • Hypercube #8 4 years ago

    I'd pay GBP 39.99 for a download if someone from EA came round to my house and did the washing up and hoovering. Other than that, they can piss right off with their over-priced cockmongling.

  • hiddenranbir #9 4 years ago

    Time to use my Spore Creator £5 discount! (Which in the long run just means I paid their full price anyway!)

    Of course, buying a cheap retail and adding the £5 from the creator I probably will have paid less overall anyway!

  • tomdominer #10 4 years ago

    Gamestracker PEOPLE

    [link url=http://uk.gamestracker.com/buy-spore-compare-prices-pc .htm
    ]http://uk .gamestracker.com/buy-spore-com...[/link]

    You can get it for £25 from ShopTo!

  • berelain #11 4 years ago

    Hadn't heard of that Gamestracker site before. Looks quite good.

  • Darren #12 4 years ago

    Bloody 'ell... I pre-ordered the game for a penny under £30... downloading it at ten quid extra to have it on release day is absolutely no consolation when I'll probably playing it the day before!!! These artificially inflated higher prices are what put me off downloading PC games in the first place... I remember seeing Alone in the Dark for £39.99 (which fortunately I never bought anyway). LOL

  • kingdumpalot #13 4 years ago

    Agree with all the others here- not only too expensive, but with all the horrible conditions that EA places on it's downloads like having to pay again if you want to download it again after 6 months, this deal is for the people who bought the "I am rich" Itouch app.

  • Royal Fool #14 4 years ago

    Don't shop from EA's store. They charge you for re-downloading it at a later date, which is absolutely rubbish service to customers.

  • skillian #15 4 years ago

    Bah, retail sucks, I haven't bought a game on disc for well over a year.

    Anyone know what Direct2Drive is like? Price seems OK, but what about patches, multiple installations, redownloading, stuff like that?

  • Setaro #16 4 years ago

    Amazon ftw, as usual.

  • Stuz359 #17 4 years ago

    This is why digital distribution is evil.

  • Krun #18 4 years ago

    I pre-order my copy from play ages back so will get it for £26

    The reason the download is more than the retail price, is that if they didn't do that none of the retailers would buy any copies. Since the retailers are taking a risk with every purchase (they may not sell) any game producer that sold a download on release day for less than the retail price would never sell another copy of a game to a retailer ever again.

  • skillian #19 4 years ago

    I'm sure I saw the Orange Box in a shop, but yes, that's a Valve game of course.

    Retailers are hardly doing PC gaming any favours. I'm hoping that soon publishers just tell the retailers where to go and embrace digital distribution properly. A risky move perhaps, but they'll be making more money off each sale and cheaper prices will of course encourage more sales.

  • Wyrm #20 4 years ago

    lol £40.... good god.

  • Sar #21 4 years ago

    £40 for a download that isn't protected past 30 days?

    Fuck off EA and suck my clinkers.

  • mingster #22 4 years ago

    lol.. nice one EA someone in your pricing department needs shooting.

    And pay to re-download after 6 months thats just plain Evil.

  • SpikeRocks #23 4 years ago

    Horray! The organized pirates will now get a head start on making a crack :p

    And witha price like that they deserve to be pirated. Arr har har, Avast!!!
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/08 @ 13:31

  • KreyAtiv #24 4 years ago

    It's a close to a 4GB download. In the email that I got it said that it'll download 99% of it, then on the day of release it'll take about 30-40 minutes to install depending on your system. I'm looking forward to making the various vehicles in it. :D

    Edited by 1 at 29/08/08 @ 17:36

  • floppylobster #25 4 years ago

    @ Sar

    Surely you mean "Suck my clinkers EA, then fuck off."?

  • Lovemoose #26 4 years ago

    I agree it's expensive, but the problem isn't so much EA as it is the retailers. They'd kick up such a fuss if EA undercut them, and EA have to keep them sweet for the Chavs who spend 49.99 on new releases at christmas time.
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/08 @ 15:22

  • TurboBailey #27 4 years ago

    WTF!! £39.99??

    Screw you EA. I'll buy it elsewhere for £24.99 or less.

    No wonder people pirate video games - £39.99 is just theft for a digital download

  • skillian #28 4 years ago

    the problem isn't so much EA as it is the retailers. They'd kick up such a fuss if EA undercut them,

    That's true, sure, but these retailers are undercut all the time by internet sites in DVDs, music, clothing. I know in those cases it's not the publisher/manufacturer selling the products directly, but the effect is the same. And those products are identical - art least with games the retailer can add some value with a box, disc, manual etc.

  • Nath4n #29 4 years ago

    £40?? seriously this is a joke right...?

  • Lovemoose #30 4 years ago

    That's true, sure, but these retailers are undercut all the time by internet sites
    The internet sites are retailers too; just not on the high street. EA just don't want to piss everyone off at once.

  • alpha-0ne #31 4 years ago

    Id rather get it a day early and pay £24.99 thanks

  • MikkyX #32 4 years ago

    $49.95 on the US store, which equates to about £27.40, or nearly £13 cheaper. Bandwidth that much cheaper over there, is it?

    *rolls eyes*

  • Bezzy #33 4 years ago

    It also says you can only download the game within the first six months of purchase.

    If you want to be allowed to download it within 2 years, that's EXTRA.

    Fuck that. EA, sort your store out. Better yet, just go with steam.