Denuvo is probably one of the most controversial pieces of software around when it comes to PC games. – For those of you unaware, it effectively represents a DRM-based anti-piracy measure that looks (often without much success) to prevent games from being cracked and distributed for free. To date, however, this protection has predominantly been restricted to base games with DLC packs generally being left to the developer to protect as best as they can.
Following a report via PCGamesN, however, more controversy is undoubtedly on the way as Denuvo is reportedly working on a new anti-piracy tool that will specifically be designed to work with (and ‘protect’ gaming DLCs.
Denuvo Develops DLC-Specific Anti-Piracy Software
One of the biggest problems when it comes to DLC is that in many cases it already exists within the base gaming title (often as an update). The data is there, ready to go. It literally just lurks behind a paywall. As such, in terms of piracy, accessing these portions of the game is usually a pretty trivial task once the main title has been ‘cracked’. – With this new software, however, it’s understood that Denuvo has found a way to also apply its anti-piracy protections within a new DLC-specific design.
While this might not sound like such a terrible thing in principle, however, (piracy is a crime, etc.) Denuvo already has a pretty rocky relationship with the legitimate part of the PC gaming community. Particularly in instances such as those shown above where its inclusion in Resident Evil Village was the primary cause for stuttering gameplay and, overall, lower framerates (predominantly due to it placing extra workload on the CPU).
Any way you look at this though, and regardless of your opinion, many publishers are definitely going to be interested in what this new software can do. For the rest of us though, I think a mild suspicion/concern is probably going to be the best reaction. – It’s not that the majority of PC gamers have any problem with anti-piracy measures per se. We just have problems when they hinder our overall gameplay experience!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
