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The original was posted on /r/linux_gaming by /u/XargonWan on 2024-09-18 07:24:54+00:00.
Denuvo, made by Irdeto, is a DRM that aims to protect the game from being cracked or at least that is how they market it.
But is this really true? Is it good for the final customer?
Spoiler: it’s very harmful for the user, the gaming community and gives too much piwer to the corporations, why?
Let’s list the hot points.
You must be always online
Regardless if you’re playing a game with online features, Denuvo forces you to be online for constant contents verification, or, in the best cases, they ask you to be online at boot or after a certain amount of minutes you’ve been offline. Nowadays there are many ways to enjoy our PC games while travelling or not being at home. Denuvo games are unplayable if not connected to the internet, and in many circumstances is not always possible.
Lowers the game’s performance
Denuvo causes performance issues meaning that you need a more expensive video card and faster CPU to play the latest games. It worsens the experience for paying customers. People with lower-end hardware take the brunt of the damage, as higher-end gaming PCs can power through the problems and still deliver very playable performance.
When Denuvoless version of the game (if any) runs way better.
It’s estimated that on a good hardware you lose a minimum of 5-7fps, that can be crucial from reaching the 30fps stability in most situations.
Irdeto claims it’s not true but it’s very easy to find evidence to this with a simple internet search. Even some devs claimed this.
An clear example is the Demo of Final Fantasy 16 that is running on the Steam Deck but the full game, that comes with Denuvo, brings a huge frame drop.
Many other games got the same issues, here are some documented examples:
DSOGaming on Resident Evil Village without Denuvo
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor gets Denuvo DRM removed
The final customer has to pay for Denuvo: the games are more expensive with it
To implement Denuvo the companies need to pay a fee to Irdeto and keep paying a monthly subscription, in the end this cost is obviously charged to the final customer. The same game without Denuvo would be cheaper with the same revenue margin.
So the final user is paying for the game protection ableit they don’t care about it, as thus comes without any benefit for the final customer: it’s like paying Netflix subscription for some righ guy that you don’t even know without enjoying it.
Heavy on the budget
As said before part of the video game budget must be reserved for paying Denuvo, this means that less budget is dedicated to the actual game development.
Possibly that money could be used for something different, for example expanding the game with new functions or assets.
Privacy concenring
Encrypted information is continuously sent to Irdeto and corporate servers. What is actually sent is unclear, some crackers cailmed that they are including user’s private data or profiling data.
Denuvo’s privacy policy is not always transparent. Players don’t know the full extent of the data being collected, how long it’s stored, or who it might be shared with. Given the increasing scrutiny on data privacy, especially in the European Union under GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), Denuvo’s practices could raise significant legal and ethical questions. Under GDPR, companies must be transparent about the data they collect, and players have the right to request the deletion of their data—a process that can be cumbersome when it involves third-party services like Denuvo.
Although Denuvo claims that no invasive monitoring occurs, the simple fact that a third-party software system is required to play a game introduces an element of surveillance that many consumers find troubling.
The lack of transparency and control over personal information places gamers in a vulnerable position, as they are forced to trust that the company will handle their data responsibly—a significant ask given the history of data breaches in the gaming industry.
For example, some players reported that early versions of Denuvo caused excessive CPU usage and led to concerns that the software was tracking more than just piracy attempts.
Security breaches
Denuvo got kernel access on player’s system, that means that Denuvo is basically one of your computer administrators and can exceute any code Irdeto wishes on your computer.
If wished, they can wipe, download, read and write any data they desire.
Other malicious software that got a similar access are Rootkits and Trojans.
Denuvo Anti-Cheat has kernel level access - major security concern
You’re just renting the games
The DRM protected games are not owned by the users, they are rented at a very high price as if Denuvo servers are unavailable, or the publisher decide to retreat the product from the market there is a serious risk to lose your games as you cannot have a working local copy anymore. This already happened before, for example with the Transformers games. Luckily they weren’t protected by an DRM and who owned them now can keep them. But if you want to buy it nowadays is not possible unless you buy a retail version (if available), however this with Denuvo is even impossbile as even the retail version would have Denuvo in it.
Any delisted gane can die just because they had Denuvo and the Denuvo licence is no more valid as the company is no more upkeeping the cost.
Activation limit
Denuvo along with the game publisher can decide how many times you can activate your game: are you sharing the library with your family? Are you trying out various Proton version? Do you want to install it on more than one computer? Well, good luck. Sometimes you might can, some other times not, and this can change even after you already purchased the game.
Modding
Denuvo in most of the cases is checking the integrity of the game files, so that means if you mod the game it will not run at all, and if it’s working today it might be not working tomorrow as the companies can just “pull the trigger” and disable mods support.
Hard disk size increase
Denuvo-protected games are often criticized for their increased file sizes due to the inclusion of anti-tamper code. This has raised questions about why gamers should be forced to use more hard disk space to accommodate DRM systems that primarily serve the publisher’s interest, rather than the player’s experience. For example, in the case of Doom Eternal, Bethesda accidentally released a non-Denuvo version on their store on launch day, highlighting the unnecessary bloat that Denuvo adds. The game functioned without it, yet the protected version took up more space, suggesting that users end up paying the price in terms of storage for DRM mechanisms that offer no direct benefit to them.
Denuvo is not useful into fighting piracy nor selling significantly more
It’s not helping the sells: the most sold games don’t have Denuvo, let’s take a look to the most sold games on PC for 2023:
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Hogwarts Legacy, got Denuvo but was cracked
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Starfield
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Cyberpunk
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Baldur’s Gate 3
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Red Dead Redemption 2
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ELDEN RING
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Yakuza Like a Dragon (DRM free on GOG)
None of them got Denuvo except Hogwarts Legacy that was cracked and Yakuza that was avaiable DRM-free.
This means that piracy is not a real concern, these games for sure have been pirated but that didn’t impact the selling, stop thinking that a pirated game is a lost purchase, actually piracy MIGHT help to sell more, as stated by an EU resarch, and if it’s true that piracy is killing the game develop industry, this should have been long gone since before Denuvo or other DRMs.
Denuvo is far beyond piracy protection
When the games get cracked or available DRM free in other ways they are still sold with Denuvo, such as Yakuza, Hogwarts Legacy and Guardians of The Galaxy.
Why that? Why keep paying a very expensive subscription service to Irdeto if your game is already available without Denuvo?
Doesn’t make sense, unless Denuvo is used to keep a sort of control over the user or to sell your data to third parties.
DRM is bad for the future of the gaming --------------------------------------…
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1fjn38b/dont_buy_games_with_denuvo/