Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Denuvo Cracked on Day One

It does not come as a surprise considering how often it happens. However, the Denuvo Anti-tamper technology on Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has been cracked on the first day of its release. The game now joins the ranks of Total War: Warhammer 2 and FIFA 18 with first-day cracks. Although most publishers expect games’ security measures to be beaten eventually, most hope that it will take some time. Like movies, the bulk of the game’s sales are within the first few days of release. From there, they can extrapolate whether it will be a success or if it will fail. With security technology overcome on day-one, publishers start counting the pirated download numbers against their sales.

Denuvo Still Going Strong Despite Failures

One would think that after all the day one cracks, the publishers should tire of using it by now. However, more new games are actually using it. Aside from Middle-Earth: Shadow of War from WB Games, Bethesda’s The Evil Within 2 launching on October 13 is using it as well. Two upcoming titles from Ubisoft including Assassin’s Creed Origins and South Park: Fractured But Whole use it. Both are coming out in October as well. In November, Sega’s Sonic Forces will launch using this technology. In September alone, six Denuvo titles launched. By November, the total for 2017 Denuvo releases will reach 36 titles.

The anti-tamper tech also creates a lot of problems for reviewers since it discourages swapping out hardware. If a reviewer has to test the system performance with different processors or GPUs for example, red flags go up. Since apparently the software installation has a limit on the number of PC installation.