Did you buy Spore on Steam? Are the online features not working because of a network error that never goes away? I solved this issue today in 2025, and here's the process to make this the least time consuming for everyone. This process will work for both the game itself, and the expansion packs that are still on Steam (Creepy and Cute Parts, Galactic Adventures). The Bot Parts pack has a different process due to the fact that you can't buy it anymore.

I'd like to add a note as well, that if you can, buy the game through EA or directly through the Spore website, not Steam. Then you don't need to do any of this, and you save yourself a lot of headache. This guide stands as a way to help those who bought it through Steam already, and encourage other people to buy it literally anywhere else if they haven't.

Make sure you have both a Steam account, and an EA account. You're also going to need the EA desktop app (which may also be called Origin depending on your OS). If you don't have either of the EA related, do that first before continuing. Now before we start the long way around, it helps to check the easy way first.

Go to your Library on Steam and right-click on Spore. In the dropdown that appears, click Manage, then CD keys.



If the pop-up shows a number, great! You can stop here. Take that number over to the EA app, and redeem it in the Library. If nothing shows up in the pop-up (like the majority of people nowadays) you need to take the long way around.

This process can take a bit of time. It took me about 45 minutes in total (for the games and the expansion packs). Make sure you have enough time to get everything done before you move on.

Without a product code, the EA launcher doesn't recognize you own the game or any expansion packs for it. Therefore, when the game tries to contact the EA servers, it fails. The fastest way to get what you need to use the online features, is to talk to EA Support. There are other ways of getting your product code, if you want to look through the games files, but that can be quite lengthy and it's not guaranteed to be there.

Now before you go to the EA Support line, there's a two screenshots they are going to ask you for to prove you bought the game legitimately. This EA article shows you which screenshots you need, and specific details about them. Note that the support agents are very picky about the image being uncropped and of your complete screen. They also will not take screenshots of the Steam app, you must use the web browser. If you have your taskbar set to autohide, turn that off before you take the screenshots otherwise they won't accept them.

The first screenshot you need, the transaction history, is easy to find. Click this link or log into the Steam web browser, click Support, then Recent Purchases. Find your Spore purchase, and take a screenshot of it exactly how it is shown on the EA website. It should look exactly like the example screenshot on the EA article. Step 1, complete.

The second screenshot can be a little harder to find if it has been a while since you purchased the game. There is a quick shortcut though. Copy the below into your browser, but replace the XXXX at the end with the full transaction number from your Steam transaction history.

https://steamhost.cn/account/receipt/XXXXX

You may have to zoom your browser page out to fit the entire transaction receipt on the page. Step 2, complete.

Now you have all the information they're going to ask you for, and you're ready to talk to EA Support.

Take your shiny new screenshots over to the EA Help page. When it loads, it should look something like this


Type "Spore" into the game support search bar, and click on it. If you're doing this just for an expansion pack, it may help if you click on the expansion itself. I still got help with the expansions through just the main game's help page.



None of the articles that show up are going to be able to help you, you need to talk to an agent for them to grant you access to the games you already bought. The option to talk to an agent is a bit hidden on the website. When you get to the help articles, click See All Help Topics, and then click "I need help downloading a game". The following page should show up. Ignore the article, click on Chat With Us.



Follow the prompts that appear, click Steam and enter your full name and email. It may take a few minutes to be connected with an agent, just be patient and wait for it to load. When you reach an agent, first tell them your first name, and wait for them to say "how can I assist you". Then, tell them that you bought Spore on Steam, when you bought it, and that it didn't give you a product code for EA. Something along the lines of the below with your information in it will work nicely.

"I need help with Spore's network play. I bought Spore on Steam on date, and I realized it didn't give me a product code for the network features. Spore keeps having a network error because of this, and I can't access the online play. I have proof of purchase screenshots ready as well to help. "

They will then ask you the email associated with your EA account, and may ask you something you already said. Be polite, tell them again. Most of the agents don't speak English as their first language, and may have missed what you said. They will then ask you to provide your proof of purchase screenshots. Once they have reviewed both, they will issue Spore or the expansions to your EA account. They will likely ask you to check that it is there, if they don't, do that before you leave the chatline. Once that's all done, Spore's network play will work and you can make a Spore account.

Now that you have Spore on both Steam and EA, the network features should work as intended. I am not certain that it is required, but linking your Steam and EA accounts may help in these final steps.

The agent may have told you that you need to play the game through the EA app. From what I've observed, this is false. The Steam download will work just fine as an EA one would. If you want to redownload the game through EA, go for it. I haven't found a difference in playing it through Steam.

Open Spore, and make a Spore account using your EA email. When it finishes loading, you'll have access to all the network features! Sporecasts, the global Sporepedia, and achievements will now work. If you reached a point in a save file before you did this that would've earned an achievement, some of them will autopopulate. Others you will have to re-fufill the condition for them to be marked as achieved.

I hope this guide was helpful, and have fun playing Spore online.

I'm glad this guide has been helpful to people, or at least a couple people. Some things I've observed from others varying success.

1. It seems like EA has hours on their chatline, or periods where it just isn't active. I couldn't find evidence of actual posted hours, but I also have observed the option to chat with someone not being available sometimes, or the line never picks up in some people's experience. Check back later, or try another day if this happens.

2. "EA support sucks" Yeah, pretty general sentiment of people having difficulty. I also think it was unnecessarily complicated, but at least it works now. The only advice I can give you if this doesn't work is to keep trying through the email and chatline, or buy the creature creator through the official Spore site. Wishing you luck!

3. A couple people have needed to play through the EA launcher for success. Maybe I just got lucky and mine works through Steam, not sure. Might just be easier to play through EA if "now playing" isn't a dealbreaker.