Spore was my hyperfixation for a good long while. It was off-beat, quirky, had an eccentric personality and was completely different than anything else out there and the creature creator was absolutely amazing. It was everything that a popular mainstream game wasn't, which is exactly the reason why no profit-driven business would fund something like it. Nowadays, even if something is profitable, if the margin is big enough, it's considered a flop. I am convinced though, that unfortunately for Spore, SecuROM is the reason it saw no future.