@Nicky Grimes, thanks again for your help and your time.

@Alagoronset: As for Dead Space 3's lobbies, they only allow 2 players per lobby. If a third person tries to join, it won't work.

As per earlier comment and guide, invites via Steam and EA don't work as of 2022 - Present (2025+). I'm unsure what the reasoning behind it is. Possibly could be end of support regarding that method of inviting friends to play.

The way to work around this (until EA comes up with a better solution in the far future), is to have a public lobby open. Wait for your friend to join and remove any unwanted players. You'll have to utilize the public server option as Private/Friends Only options no longer works on both platforms (Steam and EA).

@Alagoronset: That explains! Using a mobile hotspot (internet data provided by the cellphone company) are used mostly for emergencies but they're not the greatest of connections.

I strongly recommend ExpressVPN as they've had great service before in the past.

BTW. we played steam version - with EA connected. Friend in steam and EA. And yes - invite friend in game via EA didnt work - always error pn connection. In some point my friend change his country to German - trying play with girl from German but it didnt helped. then we tryed - fail. and after he change again to Ukraine - he able join lobby and we played 2.5 chapter yesterday.

Ty, we managed it. But it was weird/ same country - cant start game - install vpn - didnt work, then uninstall vpn - we finally can play. (Both in Ukraine). But when try play with girl in germany - it's fail again. We think its problem with internet in Germany - she using share mobile internet via cellphone. Thank you for answering me.

@Alagoronset

TL;DR steps
1. Create a public lobby and wait for your friend to join.
Private/Friends Only options within the lobby settings don't work. It has to be public so your friend can see the server within the Public Server List. It's the screen you see when you're looking for someone's server to join.

Kick out any strangers that joins the lobby. Keep your friend updated as to whether the lobby is open or not. Once there's a spot available, tell your friend to join.

Again, be sure that you're following the 2024 guide for a visual guide. If you're following the 2023 version, that one is outdated.