I recently had this problem. I tried going to the Origin website, login to my account, and tried to add my 2004 version of the game CD Key, it told me it was not valid in Origin and that I should try to do it directly on the EA website. On the EA website the result also was not positive. So my next step was to open a ticket, after opening the ticket I got the option to start a live chat, so I chose it.
The EA chat customer service representative was very kind, he asked me for my CD Key, asked me some general info to prove I was a legitimate Sims 2 owner and finally added the game to the Origin library to download. And not only that, because the game was not the Sims 2 Base game, but in fact it was the Sims 2 ultimate collection which contains all of the expansion.
Thank you EA!!! I love you guys!
The ultimate collection comes with the following:
😉
I'm in the same boat. I've bought so many games from EA over the years and have never had to think about using Origin until now as my new laptop does not have a disc drive. Some of the games I've lent out over the years and have had to replace - using second hand games where possible to save money. Some of the expansions I've been able to add to Origin no problem - they can't have been linked to an Origin account before - both others have already been redeemed. Origin told me to ask Ebay for a refund, buy a new physical game (brand new obviously), or pay again for the game via Origin. It's a bit much that I have to now pay for a new origin key to play games that I've had for years.
