From EA DRM Pariah to Preservation Darling: Spore Lives Forever in GOG's Preservation Program With Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider 2013

Spore is getting the glass-case treatment. GOG just folded the Spore Collection into its Preservation Program, which is their ongoing effort to keep important games working cleanly on modern machines without weird workarounds or junky launchers. It is a nice bit of symmetry: a game once infamous for DRM now being held up as something worth keeping DRM-free forever.

What GOG is actually promising here

The GOG Preservation Program is basically a long-term maintenance plan for notable releases. Their pledge is pretty clear:

"Remain compatible and playable on modern systems in their best form" — effectively, make these games "live forever."

Spore has been on GOG without DRM for years, but getting elevated into this program is a milestone. It means GOG is on the hook to keep it running smoothly as operating systems evolve, which is exactly the kind of quiet, unsexy work that preserves a game’s legacy.

What else just joined the museum shelf

• Tomb Raider (2013)
• Hitman: Codename 47
• Clive Barker's Undying
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Plus a pile of older titles that maybe did not grab headlines but deserve to stick around

Quick history refresher: Spore vs. DRM

Back in 2008, most PC players were still buying discs and installing games as many times as they wanted. Spore showed up with SecuROM, required online activation, and capped installs at three machines. That went over exactly how you think: massive backlash, a spike in piracy, and a long tail of angry forum posts. EA eventually loosened the rules and put Spore on Steam later on. Steam had its own detractors back then, but compared to SecuROM, it felt downright reasonable.

So, is Spore worth preserving?

Yeah. As a game, Spore is one of the most literal stabs at the life sim idea: you evolve a species from a squishy single cell to a spacefaring civilization. The mechanics are pretty basic at each stage, but the creature creator was (and is) a toy-box of chaos — the part people really fell in love with. The game’s other legacy, unfortunately, is as a cautionary tale about bad DRM.

The darker side: Darkspore

EA spun Spore’s creature tools into Darkspore, a Diablo-style action RPG that required an online connection. When the servers shut down in 2016, that was it — the game became completely unplayable. That exact scenario helped fuel today’s preservation push and the Stop Killing Games movement. So seeing the original Spore get long-term support, and in a DRM-free format, feels like someone learned something.

One more preservation note

That Stop Killing Games petition crossed 1.4 million signatures and drew accusations of fake entries, but organizers say they are confident they have exceeded the needed thresholds. However you feel about petitions, the pressure is clearly working: platforms and publishers are at least talking about keeping games alive, and in GOG’s case, actually doing the work.