Denuvo, once the iron-clad terror of pirates everywhere, was recently removed from two high-profile games, Doom and Inside. Why? After more than a week of speculation, Denuvo’s decided to clarify things.
“The simple reason why Denuvo Anti Tamper was removed from Doom was because it had accomplished its purpose by keeping the game safe from piracy during the initial sales window,” Denuvo’s Robert Hernandez said to me in an email. “The protection on Doom held up for nearly four months, which is an impressive accomplishment for such a high-profile game.”
He also said that there’s no truth to the rumor that Denuvo strikes deals with game publishers where, if their anti-piracy tech is cracked within a certain timeframe, publishers can get a refund. “We can’t comment on our deals with specific customers, but we do not have any deals in place that offer refunds if a game is cracked within a specific time frame,” Hernandez said. “However, each publisher is of course free to remove our anti tamper tech from their title once they feel the protection has achieved its purpose in protecting the initial sales window, or if they have other reasons for doing so, such as selling the title on DRM-free platforms.”
After a period of many months in which Denuvo seemed nearly impassable, hackers began to crack the code earlier this year. In addition to Doom and Inside, other games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst saw their defenses fall in recent months. Denuvo, however, claims that’s not the reason a couple publishers decided to peel it off their games.
“We don’t position Denuvo Anti Tamper as being uncrackable,” said Hernandez. “No anti piracy solution is. However, our goal is to keep each title safe from piracy during the crucial initial sales window when most of the sales are made.”