Denuvo - the best "DRM" that can defeat PC piracy

Introduction

DRM. People don't like to talk about it in any favourable terms. While the piracy problem is often exaggerated by publishers, the fact remains that it is still present, and there are always loss of potential sales (at a rate vastly lower than 1 pirated copy = 1 lost sale). I don't think it's wrong to say that PC as a platform would be even more profitable and successful than it already is if piracy can be eradicated in a practical (if not complete) sense. Considering piracy exists also on consoles, that by itself would be a huge advantage for PC as a platform.

So what is "Denuvo"? Assuming you haven't been under a rock for the past year, Denuvo is a new form of "DRM", or to be more precise "anti-tampering", that was introduced this year, and it has been used on a number of recent AAA titles. Compared to many other forms of DRM (i.e. always online), Denuvo is not at all intrusive, and it is very time-consuming for cracking groups to crack. However, for whatever reason Denuvo has been the target of a huge load of controversies since its release, even though nearly all the controversies were based entirely on misinformation.

In truth, Denuvo is so harmless that most legitimate buyers could spend hours on the game, never even aware that the game is using Denuvo, until they read some article that discovered the game is using Denuvo. I mean, how do you even discover if a game is using Denuvo, unless you... try to "find out"?

Misconceptions

1. Damaging SSDs:

One of the first rumours was that Denuvo damages SSDs due to an excessive amount of writes. This rumour seems a lot bigger than it is, since every website decided to spread it for clicks, but it was in fact originated from a single source - a Russian (suspicious?) website with a couple screenshots claiming the excessive writes. The link is no longer available; the site has since taken down the article. The claim has since then been disproved by many many independent tests to the contrary, but the damage inflicted by the rumour was never fully mitigated. Some of the tests:

• http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=139405486&postcount=34
• https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2mn21a/as_a_warning_dont_install_games_with_denuvo_drm/cm64nhv
• https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2mn21a/as_a_warning_dont_install_games_with_denuvo_drm/cm6udlm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GJZyeAR7H0

2. Performance Issues:

A common complaint targeted at DRM is that the DRM reduces a game's performance, and this was indeed true during the SecuROM era. Nothing incites more rage among legitimate buyers than knowing that the pirates are enjoying a superior version of the game that runs better. Two Denuvo games have been the primary target of this complaint: Lords of the Fallen and Batman Arkham Knight. I mean, surely DRM can be the only reason at fault!

However, the truth is the reason those games run badly is simply because the games themselves were poorly optimised. There are two simple evidences supporting this: 1) other Denuvo games are some of the most optimised PC games on the market; 2) the cracked versions of those games suffer exactly the same problems! I mean, it was simply absurd to even believe that Denuvo can somehow remove ingame assets from the PC version found in the PS4 version.

3. Prevents/Limits Modding:

When it comes to modding, the only thing that Denuvo truly prevents is modification of the main .exe file. However, the vast majority of mods have no reason whatsoever to even touch the main .exe, especially if modding is officially supported. For example, FO4 only came out recently, and no official modding tools are available, and not one single mod requires modification of main .exe file.

I believe this blame was first cast during the Dragon Age: Inqusition release, which has extremely limited capability when it comes to modding. As usual, people quickly threw the blame at that DRM. However, in truth this difficulty was caused entirely by DAI's use of Frostbite engine. Since then this difficulty has been overcome, and we now see a fair number of mods available for DAI. At the end of the day though, how moddable a game still depends primarily on how much official support the devs provide, not the DRM.

It should be noted that in cases where the devs do not officially support modding whatsoever, some mods may indeed only be possible via .exe modification. A good example would be the Long War mod for XCOM. Now that XCOM2 has official mod support, it shouldn't be necessary to resort to .exe modification again.

4. Denuvo is Cracked:

Yet another misconception, possibly construed to diminish the perceived effectiveness of Denuvo, is that once Denuvo is cracked, it's cracked for every game using Denuvo. However, the truth is unlike every other form of DRM, every time Denuvo is cracked, it does not materially reduce the time required for any subsequent crack. Denuvo is at the end of the day not a DRM, but anti-tampering, and it will anti crackers' tampering regardless of how many times it's been bypassed. Currently, every Denuvo title takes at least 2 weeks to crack, while some are never fully cracked even months later (e.g. MGS5, where a stable version still isn't available).

Make no mistake. Denuvo is both difficult and time-consuming to crack, even more than a year after its release.

Denuvo Defeating PC Piracy

So here's what we know about Denuvo: it's not intrusive, it's used only by a few games, and it's consistently effective to some degree even after being previously cracked. How can it defeat PC piracy, if at the end of the day it can still be cracked? Doesn't it merely mean that pirates have to wait a few weeks/months more than usual?

There is currently only one cracking group capable of handling Denuvo on the market, and there is only a handful of games that use Denuvo. Even when the cracking group can focus all its attention on a recently released Denuvo title, it still takes them a significant amount of time to get through the anti-tampering. As mentioned above, some titles even remain imperfectly cracked as the cracking group "runs out of time" and is forced to move on to working on a new Denuvo release.

Imagine then, if hundreds or thousands of new titles on PC all use Denuvo. How much can one single cracking group do then? Perhaps all they will be capable of doing is releasing that one crack for a single Denuvo title out of a thousand, and soon the vast majority of new PC titles will remain uncracked indefinitely. That, is when PC piracy is defeated in all practical forms.

I think PC gamers as a community need to see through the misinformation and embrace Denuvo. DRM-free is just a pipe dream shared only by a few select titles, and will never become the norm. Denuvo has a real chance of defeating PC piracy, and if it is ousted as a result of misinformation, prejudice and plain simple trolling, then mark my words: SOMETHING FAR WORSE WILL TAKE ITS PLACE.

except the games that didn't get cracked did not sell more copies that usual so this entire argument is meaningless.

Even if they "defeat" piracy completely the games won't suddenly start selling more copies cause the people who pirated had no intentions of buying them in the first place.

Based on what "usual"? You are not proposing a logical argument. Can you honestly say that a game will not sell more copies if it cannot be pirated whatsoever?

And even should that unrealistic expectation be true, how does it counter against the fact that Denuvo would be useful in preserving copyright from a rights perspective?

@ShepardCommandr: But pirating is still wrong regardless if it harms sales or not.

I believe it has only ever been argued successfully before that piracy does less harm than it's exaggerated to be. However, arguments claiming that piracy does zero harm, or more good than harm, are nothing short of delusional and misinformed bogwash.

If the game is good, it will sell. Look at wticher, no DRM; sells like hot cakes.

With that said, I do know a VERY VERY VERYYYY good website to get these games. Believe me, they have cracked Denuvo within a week of release.

The only thing that actually stops piracy is multiplayer only. I'm not talking having to be connected with server, those are easy cracks. I'm talking about games like WoW, Rainbow Siege, Diablo..etc. These games even if you crack them are like Skeletons because so much things are missing. Siege for example wont let you play with other, only on terrorist hunt by yourself. WoW you will be playing by yourself hence no content. Diablo, can't connect to their server.

FYI, it's unfortunate that I would get banned if I post any more information, but MSGS5 WAS CRACKED 2 FU**ing DAYS BEFORE THE GAME WAS OFFICIALLY RELEASED

Piracy is so 10 years ago. Waiting for a 75% off Steam sale is where it's at now.

@Berserker1_5: Why is it that people always try to attack Denuvo by claiming that it's not effective? Obviously, we can't post sources to the contrary, but I shall say that you are misinformed. MGS 5 in particular still doesn't have a stable version of the crack, and further progress has been effectively abandoned.

So let's take your word for it, and hypothetically say that Denuvo is not as effective as I claimed, but still effective to some degree. What reason then do you have against its wide implementation? What counter argument do you have, against my hypothesis that Denuvo cracking will take even longer, maybe indefinitely, if hundreds of games use Denuvo, instead of just a handful. There is only that one crack group capable of dealing with Denuvo at the end of the day.

The Witcher 3 sales underscores the fact that a great game with plenty of content from a chill dev doesn't need DRM.

Good game at the right time with right marketing always sells. Denuvo is crackable. And games that weren't cracked sold poorly anyway. Witcher 3 sold best on GOG, a DRM free platform. Denuvo is not a savior of anything because nothing needs saving. There are a lot of games on every platform.

Do you honestly think Witcher 3's practice will become the norm? The greedy publishers will always be the majority, so rather than dreaming the impossible the best way forward is accepting that some way that allows an efficient coexistence.

I like what Witcher 3 is doing, but I don't think it will work for everyone, or at least not everyone will be willing to follow it through. There will always be DRM, and Denuvo is pretty decent as far as DRM is concerned.

DRM of any form is still a cancer for the industry. Witcher 3 had great sales on the PC with no DRM.

Like I said, the game was cracked 2 days prior to release. The only catch was, you can't get any updates till the crack was updated. (Which it is now)

With that said, I don't really care too much about Denuvo. One of my problems is that people claim how Denuvo is the best DRM, when clearly it is not. The most likely best DRM method is what Blizzard does, but it's a very very costly one because it hurts the bottom line. But mainly, my biggest issue with is it what you said..

"SOMETHING FAR WORSE WILL TAKE ITS PLACE."

Because that's exactly what will happen. Because it doesn't matter what these companies do, or what laws the government creates, there is no fool proof DRM. People will always find a way around it and companies will try and one up them. And make no mistake, Piracy of video game has been here since the creation of video games. The gaming industry always survived with it, but now that companies/BOD need to answer to shareholder they look for constant reasons and excuses.

As others and I have said already, a person looking to get the game free will do it regardless of the DRM being used. It's the consumers who suffer because the companies are throwing millions into trying to stop a small minority and create DRM that hurts consumers.

My point then is that I'd rather we embrace a treatable cancer like Denuvo instead of something entirely worse.

Like many other facets of the industry, such as micro-transactions, we can only accept that these facets will exist in the industry. We can't simply dream DRM out of the industry.

@GhoX:

What being a kickass game from a dev who doesn't make excuses as to why their shitty game doesn't sell on PC?

Piracy is a non-factor just like CDPR learned. Pirates can't or won't buy for whatever reason. Focus on selling the game to the buyers.

I get the feeling some people on SW are being paid to advertise for this crap. There have been a few too many threads about it that are praising it to heaven.

I praise it because I have a genuine interest for the welfare of the PC platform, and I'm disgusted by the hordes of misinformation and prejudice on an otherwise exceptionally well-informed platform.

+1

+2

Trolls. Don't take them seriously. They look for excuses to hide their short library of exclusives. No one cares about them. There are over 125 million steam users and counting, shit ton of exclusives and 95% multiplats on PC (99.9% being superior).

@GhoX:

Regardless of Dem, piracy has existed since video games. The growth for the video game PC market has increased YTY. Don't worry about the welfare of gaming or the PC platform.

The bigger issue is the issue of companies being unable to admit there is a problem beyond piracy that is affecting their sales

This guy took the time to write this. Good on him

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Another-view-of-game-piracy

Yes, that really is a problem. It's also another reason why I see eradication of piracy as only beneficial. It does mean publishers will be forced to wake up and realise that they have no excuse left.

I'm sure there are other ways of achieving it, such as if more games like Witcher 3 succeed and shake up the industry. Eradication of piracy is just another way that may be used to approach the issue.

This is the second thread i've seen with this kind of zealotry towards Denovo and from two different posters, so yeah i'm starting to wonder too.

Also as for OP

"4. Denuvo is Cracked:"

Is most certainly not a misconception, a quick google search proves that.

A quick google search doesn't prove anything other than snippets of information misleading your understanding. Please read what I meant by the heading, not just the heading itself.

I get that you're talking about the entire DRM system, but every game that's had demand and that has had Denovo protection has been cracked. You can get around it by saying "yes but Denovo hasn't been cracked" but when the games it's on get cracked eventually it's as good as.

Don't get me wrong i agree that the problems surrounding Denovo were exaggerated and i've never had any bad issues with it, though i still can't play Lord of the Fallen to this day without it crashing soon after starting (not saying Denovo is the cause), but other than that i've never noticed it's presence.

@Snugenz: Yes, at the moment Denuvo is not doing much. It really only causes about 2 weeks delay for the popular titles (and longer for the less popular ones).

My overriding point of the entire main post is that if Denuvo becomes more widespread, the potential delay it may cause may be so great that it eradicates piracy in any practical sense.

Oh, and trust me, Lords of the Fallen crashes for everyone everywhere. Bad codes are bad, with or without DRM.

Honestly i would prefer Denovo to be the go to DRM instead of the every increasing presence of Always Online games, Need for Speed 2015 being the most recent offender, but i think you're wrong. I just don't see Denovo causing such large problems for the cracking scene that they give up trying. These people are tenacious.

This. 110%

Piracy is an excuse for publishers/devs that make shit games. aka ubisoft. Although for some reason they still have good sales on PC...

I don't think it comes to anyone as surprise that it's the chinese who are most active on the cracking department and will continue to be so, they dont pay for games, either they get em for free or they don't play them, just see about every game that has had an chinese export version made, all f2p. As you know they pirate and fake what ever they possibly can and will continue to do so. I'm not saying they are the only cause of piracy in the gaming industry but they sure are one of the biggest factors and no you wont get rid of 'em.

As I don't know the costs developers are paying for Denuvo it's hard to say if's profitable or not. Sure not being able to play the game right after launch might encourage some people to actually pay for the game, mostly not. Then there's those who feel it's ok to pirate it at launch and buy it from sale.

Piracy also hurts mainly singleplayer games, PC tends to have a lot more games focused on multiplayer compared to console platforms, does piracy play a part in that? maybe a little, mainly it's the far easier networking solutions available on the platform.

Let's see sales of AAA games that using Denuvo:

Just Cause 3= 219,034 ± 11,461 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/225540

Mad Max= 474,390 ± 16,858 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/234140

MGS V:TPP= 776,447 ± 21,555 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/287700

And AAA games that don't use DRM:

Witcher 3 = 1,080,547 ± 25,414 (not including GOG sales) Source: http://steamspy.com/app/292030

Fallout 4= 2,394,280 ± 37,734 Source : http://steamspy.com/app/377160

COD: Black Ops 3 = 561,501 ± 18,338 Source : http://steamspy.com/app/311210

I don't see any games that using Denuvo get upper hand on sales. And don't forget it will cost developers if they using Denuvo. Instead wasting resources for Denuvo, they can spend it for other important aspect, such as optimization.

+1 , or FO4 ... it's a shit game and cracked in a 2nd after it's release but look how many copies it sold only on steam

Preventing piracy is both impossible and will not generate more sales. Want more sales? Make your game good. That's all it takes.

This DRM bullshit leads nowhere, costs lots of money and hurts the buyers more than the pirates. Seeing this commercial thread for Denuvo is pretty disgusting.

My hypothesis is that piracy can be prevented, and you didn't provide anything to refute that hypothesis. And even if piracy cannot be perfectly prevented, is that justification for abandoning prevention entirely?

You are also not supporting your assertion. How does Denuvo hurt buyers more than pirates, when it's entirely to the contrary?

I don't see how this is even a meaningful comparison. You are literally comparing apples to oranges? I mean, I can do it too:

Games using Denuvo:

Just Cause 3= 219,034 ± 11,461 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/225540

Mad Max= 474,390 ± 16,858 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/234140

MGS V:TPP= 776,447 ± 21,555 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/287700

Games that don't use Denuvo:

Rainbow Six Siege= 98,589 ± 7,691 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/359550

Assassin's Creed Syndicate= 63,053 ± 6,151 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/368500

Anno 2205= 45,442 ± 5,222 Source: http://steamspy.com/app/375910

See how much of a waste of time that was? The obvious trend here is of course that better/more popular games sell more; nobody is denying that. What cannot be proven whatsoever is how much better any given game would have sold with or without DRM, and it's my belief that games like Fallout 4 would have sold even better if it had Denuvo.

Haha nailed it! How does piracy even work these days with the constant updates and online components? Anyway with the Steam sales who has the energy to do it regardless?

The problem with this argument is that you think people who have the ability to buy a game pirate it anyway. That is not the case.

Piracy is very much centered around countries like Russia and China. Countries where either the average income is low or currency conversion rate from USD is absurdly high are prone to piracy the most.

It's not either/or, there's an overlap. Some people who pirate a game would have bought it if piracy was not an option, some would not. I don't think any of us has data that can help us make accurate estimates of these groups. I agree with you that the vast majority probably would not have bought the game for the reason you stated.

I agree that it's not ALWAYS the case. However, do you think it's even logical to say that "every gamer who have the ability to purchase a game do in fact purchase the game instead of pirating it"?

There will always be some overlapping, and some loss of potential sales. It's not as exaggerated a problem as the publishers claim, but it's still there in some ambitious and size or form that may be impossible to truly measure. Eradicating piracy would resolve both an actual problem of piracy, and publishers' perceived problem of piracy, so that ALL publishers can better spend their resources elsewhere instead of only CDPR.

If publishers want to waste their money on useless DRM/anti-tamper software then go for it.

Some people may buy if if you can't copy it within 7 days, some will not buy it out of principle because of the DRM (I know they keep saying it's not DRM, but it's usually coupled with DRM or what would the point of it be). I would also assume because of this mods such as multiplayer mod for just cause will not be possible so it actually be have negative impacts in the long run unless they remove it in a patch later.

Yep and that is something companies have miss judge,they think a pirate copy of a game = 1 less sold copy when in reality that isn't true at all,just because some one is playing something because it is getting it at no cost doesn't mean it will pay for it.

Nothing can stop hacking a soft or a hard, it's only a matter of time or/and interest!!!

All these solutions do more harm than good but that's how it is.

If people don't have enough income to buy a game, adding such a protection won't change that fact.

@KungfuKitten: The one thing I'm really not sure about is Denuvo's cost. The fact that only AAA titles (other than Lords of the Fallen, which felt more like a test subject) have been using it may suggest that its cost is too prohibitive for indie titles. It may be why it's not widespread already despite its relative effectiveness.

Then again, what Denuvo has proven is that DRM can be both non-intrusive and effective to some degree. It raises the possibility that similar forms of DRM may be made and compete with Denuvo. With enough competition, some form of effective and non-intrusive DRM may eventually become available for even low budget devs.

@tormentos: no, they did not misjudge. It's just easier to use piracy and a excuse for bad sales. They don't assume shareholders or people in general will do their homework.

In reality, in USA it's widely estimated that only ~5% actually pirate game. While low income countries like Russia, China, India, Greece..etc tend to have much higher piracy rate.

Additionally, even in USA, an average gamer buy 3-5 games a year on the PC. An average gamer who pirates games tends to download over 2 dozen a year.

Now they claim that if they can't pirate games, all those downloads would have been sales. That one guy that downloaded 24 games will apparently buy more than an average USA gamer will despite being from low income countries. The same low income countries where they tend to make €300-400 a month. They would not be able to afford those games even if they save every penny

But companies will claim otherwise. It's an easy excuse to why their games failed.

I'm not he only one who claims this. It's actually companies who have succeeded without DRM that have proven it. Blizzard did not have DRM, you could have downloaded any games they made prior to 2008 without any effort, Diablo 2, Starcraft, Warcraft 3. CDR project, all games are DRM free. Portal 2, no DRM:

It's like the second said, if pirates get better service from people who let them pirate it, then it's devs fault not ours. He is right

I just don't buy games that run denuvo so yeah, great idea! Their shitty DRM prevents people from even considering to buy your game. Well done...

/s

Its only a cancer because of what people have done. Its not PC gamers, everyone pirates anything digital now.

These companies are making hundreds of millions of dollars (if not billions). You don't think they have figured out a trivial point like that? Of course they realize that: "a pirate copy of a game = p less sold copies (on average)", where 0<p<1.

@GhoX: I just point out. Even MGS V can't reach 1 m sales on Steam with Denuvo. And Just Cause 3 only sold 200k copy, they can sell more if they spend more resources at optimization instead paying Denuvo.

And Denuvo is limiting modding, that's why Bethesda don't use it since FOSE/SKSE is essential for modding.

Way I see it, hypothetically speaking, if I couldn't pirate a game I won't go buy it, I'll go play the next best free pirated game I can get my hands on. Until they corner the AAA market with this anti-tampering support, this will probably be the trend, pirate gamers won't be compelled to buy AAA fames until they've nothing left but indie games and free-to-play / pay-to-win games.

The only way to "beat" piracy is to make games people want to play and sell them at a reasonable price. You can never fully stop piracy. It's obtrusiveness and anti-consumer just to try. You punish your real consumers while the pirates skirt around the anti-piracy measures.

I don't know if this is off topic but the Swedish Court refused to order ISPs to block Pirate Bay. The Swedish Film Industry had filed a lawsuit against TPB in court earlier this year. I guess the court is on the side of pirates? Which is completed retarded decision from them.

Source