denuvo has been featured and discussed about public perception of its DRM anti-cheat software, which many gamers dislike due to alleged degradations in gaming performance and PC issues. The software can be found in many new PC games on Steam, integrated into Street Fighter 6, Redfall, and many more.
Denuvo was acquired by software company Irdeto in 2018, and Irdeto’s director of video game operations, Steeve Huin, has now spoken out about the anti-temperature technology in an attempt to set the record straight on public perception.
“In the hacking/cracking community, we are seen as evil because we are helping to bring DRM into existence and making sure that people make money from games,” says Huin.
“Anti-piracy technologies benefit game publishers, [but also] benefits players because it protects the [publisher’s] investment and it means that publishers can invest in the next game,” continues Huin. “But people don’t normally think about it enough.
“Whether people want to believe it or not, we are all gamers, we love games, we love being a part of them. We develop technologies with the intention of making the industry better and stronger,” Huin tells Ars Technica.
This year, Redfall launched with Denuvo, as did Street Fighter 6 (revealed just days before launch), while Resident Evil 8 removed the technology after launch. In fact, Denuvo even published a book against “dangerous” emulation earlier this year.
The controversy surrounding Denuvo doesn’t really stem from its use of anti-cheat, but from how the software uses the CPU and allegations that this can negatively affect performance and even damage some PCs. Comparisons are regularly made between games with Denuvo and versions without the software, and DRM-free versions often perform much better.
In the meantime, we’ve got all the free Steam games you’ll want to play, along with some of the biggest upcoming games in 2023 and beyond.