Welcome to jdrgaming.com Thursday, March 28 2024 @ 05:19 PM PDT

Denuvo downturn

Until a few months ago, the software copy protection technology (aka DRM) known as Denuvo was considered uncrackable. Now, games 'protected' by Denuvo are being cracked within days of their launch. And game developers are starting to dump the technology as a pointless waste of time and resources.

The game developer Playdead recently removed Denuvo from their popular game Inside, presumably so that it could be sold from the GOG web store, which doesn't sell DRM-encumbered games.

Bethesda has also removed Denuvo from the 2016 release of Doom. The Denuvo protection for Doom was defeated very soon after the game was released. According to at least one source, Denuvo effectively offers its customers a refund if a protected game is cracked within three months of its release. That may be what happened here.

Update 2016Dec20: Denuvo has responded to the media attention by saying that they don't offer refunds. But that's just semantics; not having to pay for something that normally costs money is just a proactive refund. Also, Techdirt weighs in. And again.