Install the game through Steam/Origin on the computer with Windows 8.1 or higher.

Mine is running on Windows 7, so I borrowed a computer with Windows 10 just to do it.

Have a computer with Windows 8.1 or higher available for the procedure.

Some users suggested some solutions over there on EA forums, one of which worked for me. In all scenarios, the message keeps appearing and the resources packs are not available in the DLC page. And trying to shut down both Steam and Origin, then booting the desktop icon, would launch both Origin and Steam. Trying to boot the game on Steam alone would boot it through Origin. Trying to boot the game on Origin alone would boot it through Steam. Whenever I tried to boot the game, a banner was displaying on Origin, saying: 'The Origin store is currently disabled because it was launched from another application'.

The third one I noticed is because I bought the game on Steam.

Some of them commented how neither living in Europe nor in Canada allowed them to access it until using the VPN. Some people who bought the game on Origin (before it was available on Steam) pointed out how they were able to buy resources packs with ration seals after using a VPN to set their location to the United States.

The second hypothesis is the fact that it might be region locked.

However, since the server was shutdown (they believe it was when Visceral Games died, the video game developer studio owned by Electronic Arts that worked on Dead Space).

The first one some people were bringing up was the fact that the game needs to connect to some remote server for the ration seals purchase to work.

While I was searching up some information, I stumbled on some reasons as to why it might be happening:

After you're done, you can keep playing on whatever operating system you usually use. TL DR: You need a computer with Windows 8.1 or higher in order to perform the solution below. Might be that they decided to remove it completely, or their related servers are down/broken. I just now tested this, and it looks like my solution no longer works.

UPDATE 6th September 2022: According to this post, the following solution doesn't work anymore, so ration seals can no longer be spent.

Dead space 3 cant access dlc