Origin download code giveaway costs EA dear

EA has been stung by an error in a download code giveaway which resulted in thousands of games being downloaded for free from the publisher's online store.

Codes were given to users who completed a survey, intended to allow the download of a single game each from EA's Origin service. Instead, each code could be used without limit, by any Origin user in North America.

Before long, news of the exploit hit the pages of Reddit, resulting in an explosion of users looting Origin for multiple titles - as many as forty each.

One user, PaladinMats, proudly posted the following list of games in his 'haul'.

• Dead Space
• Dead Space 2
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Dragon Age: Awakening
• Dragon Age II
• Crysis
• Crysis Warhead
• NFS Shift
• NFS Hot Pursuit
• NFS Undercover
• NFS Shift 2 Unleashed
• NFS World ($20 speed boost credit included)
• Medal of Honor
• Littilest Pet Shop
• Burnout Paradise the Ultimate Box
• MySims
• Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight
• Command & Conquer 3
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising
• Mass Effect 1
• Mass Effect 2
• Battlefield 2 Complete Collection
• Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition
• Battlefield Bad Company 2
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam DLC
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 SPECACT Kit Upgrades
• FIFA Soccer 12
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12
• Sim City 4
• SimCity Societies
• SimCity Societies: Destinations
• Mirror's Edge
• Mirror's Edge DLC
• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
• Shank
• Shank 2
• Spore
• The Saboteur
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ - Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ - Part 2
• Bulletstorm
• Sims 3 add-ons

EA has been contacted for comment on the incident, but has yet to make an official statement regarding the planned response. It's unclear as to what the cause of the problem may have been.