Why Denuvo Is So Controversial, Explained

Among all the anti-cheat and digital rights management (DRM) software out there, Denuvo has gotten the most criticism from gamers. We’ll dive into just how Denuvo became so controversial, how it works, and the intention behind the software’s use by game developers.

Why Gamers Hate Denuvo

One of the reigning criticisms of Denuvo by gamers claims the software hurts the performance of games, from frame rate to loading times, and has fueled most of the controversy around the DRM. YouTube channels such as Overlord Gaming, which showcased performance dips in games like Hitman and Abzu before and after using Denuvo, have only added to the fire over the years. 

To be clear, the official response from Denuvo maker Irdeto said the software has “no perceptible effect on game performance nor is [Denuvo] to blame for any game crashes of genuine executables” on its website. This is one half of the controversy that people will (aggressively) go back and forth on endlessly; however, the other half discussed by gamers seems far more critical, which claims that Denuvo isn’t great for video game preservation.

Related: Denuvo: Four Years Later

According to gamers who have played on Denuvo titles, you can get locked out of a game you paid for due to the strict nature of the software’s activation servers and token system. After saving a Denuvo game locally, you generate a token that can expire in around two weeks, and failing to re-authenticate and create a new token later leads to locking you out of the servers. 

“As a paying customer, you have no control over when or under what circumstance you can play your games,” said one Redditor discussing the matter. “This poses a major issue if Irdeto goes out of business and activation servers go down.”

Such a thing sort of happened the same year as this thread in 2021, which saw many gamers unable to play Denuvo-ran Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy because the software’s key domain name reportedly expired. This wasn’t confirmed by Irdeto, however.

Denuvo Is Supposed to Stop Piracy – But Is It?

Beyond all the controversial statements, Denuvo aims to cut back on piracy and protect the games made by developers, but has it really helped stop pirates from cracking games? Actually, yeah. Years ago, it would take a few months for someone to crack a single AAA game, but recent versions of Denuvo have made the ordeal much harder, according to users on Resetera.

“Denuvo has been getting tougher and tougher, and as of now, it’s ‘v16,’ and it’s truly maniac level of difficulty,” said one user known for cracking games.

Essentially, if more AAA studios start implementing Denuvo on games nowadays, the age of piracy might fall off the face of the earth in the coming years – or at least come to a slow crawl.