Anti-Piracy Software Denuvo Announced for Switch

[Kane99]

This means DRM style safeguards for your games. Honestly I don't see an issue with this when it comes to digital games. I also have no issue with it if it's to stop people from using fake game carts or stolen ones. I just hope this doesn't result in games becoming one time use. I don't think that would be the case. I think with this it makes sense for the Switch, because it's not like they are looking for people who sell their games. I think they genuinely want to stop people from illegally duplicating the game or finding ways of sharing it. 

You can read more on this news here: https://www.ign.com/articles/anti-piracy-software-denuvo-announced-for-switch

[Empire]

This will solve nothing and only serve to screw paying customers in some way. As soon as it affects me I'll stop buying their software so they'll just lose my actual money plus the imaginary money they lost from the pirates. Thankfully this doesn't mean this is for sure going to be a thing. They're offering a supposed solution and it'd be up to companies to take it on. Hopefully it doesn't get anywhere.

[Withywarlock]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:46 PM, Kane99 said:

Honestly I don't see an issue with this when it comes to digital games.

Denuvo and other DRM has been known to cause performance issues such as frame-rate drops and loading time problems, however negligable. These issues are mostly experienced on PC especially with older hardware, and while I give more credit to the Switch than others regarding its hardware capabilities, it still needs all the resources it can get. It doesn't need to be bogged down further by DRM.

It offers no benefit to the customer and at worst it means the pirates get the better experience because the game's performance isn't compromised.

On 8/26/2022 at 10:46 PM, Kane99 said:

I also have no issue with it if it's to stop people from using fake game carts or stolen ones.

It's highly unlikely that it will: see this exhaustive list of cracked games from four years ago. There's been a lot more games with Denuvo since, and a lot more cracks since then. The hardest games to break open are those with additional DRM, such as VM Protect & Uplay, which Ubisoft employs... meaning Denuvo on its own doesn't work. For physical games, I'm not so sure, but I imagine those who want in will find a way in and then share it online.

Regarding carts being stolen I'd love it if Denuvo had a way of returning carts to their rightful owners. It's a shame it doesn't, and this is Nintendo's first step to harming the idea of swapping games or selling them used.

I get the appeal of cracking down on emulators for the current console, I find the practice abhorrent when Switches are available, affordable for what they are, and there's plenty of copies of games new and used. The developers and publishers can still make money on them, unlike say a Nintendo 64. Shigeru Miyamoto isn't getting a penny for a copy of Super Mario 64 sold on eBay, but he could for Super Mario Odyssey bought new from GAME (well, that's not entirely how it works but the sentiment is the same.)

On 8/26/2022 at 10:46 PM, Kane99 said:

I just hope this doesn't result in games becoming one time use. I don't think that would be the case.

I wish I had your optimism. Very rarely is DRM removed for the legitimate purchasers once it's demonstrated the anti-piracy measures to have failed, meaning we can have goodbye to many games that end their publishing agreements and licenses.

On 8/26/2022 at 10:46 PM, Kane99 said:

I think they genuinely want to stop people from illegally duplicating the game or finding ways of sharing it. 

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

6 hours ago, Empire said:

As soon as it affects me I'll stop buying their software so they'll just lose my actual money plus the imaginary money they lost from the pirates.

I agree with you entirely but I want to highlight this particular line. Discourse on piracy, especially from developers and publishers, is rarely truthful let alone useful. According to sexual harrassment apologist and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemont, PC has a 93-95% piracy rate... which means their DRM is effective 5-7% of the time.

Whatever the real figures are (which they can't know anyway), they haven't really lost a sale because it's unlikely that many pirates are the 'ethical' kind who use it as a demo first.

I hope Nintendo have been paying attention but again I have not one iota of faith.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Withywarlock

[Shagger]

Denuvo is the worst thing you can have with your games. Not only it not do what it's suppose to do as it's get's cracked every time, it can and has caused massive performance issues, sometimes costing 20fps. By using such infamous and hated third party DRM it paints a bullseye on your games, thus actually making your games more vulnerable to being hacked and pirated, so it makes it worse for everyone. On PC it's bad for performance, but on what's already an underpowered console is recipe for disaster.

[Crazycrab]

Oh for fucks sake!  Denuvo is useless!  Customers (especially on PC) know it's useless, developers know it's useless, even publishers know it's useless.  the only reason anybody uses it is so say they can claim that they are doing something about the money their not loosing to piracy.  Denuvo is usually cracked within 24 hours and even if it isn't, the customer base that do have a legit copy that they paid for have to suffer.  This is without considering the hypothesis that piracy doesn't actually loose these companies any profit.  Think about it, if you would rather go through the hassle of downloading a cracked version of a game that probably has tonnes of adware bollocks then you obviously weren't willing to buy the game in the first place!  For game publishers piracy is an enemy that doesn't exist.

[Grungie]

Honestly, anti-piracy tends to make it more of a pain for legit customers than the pirates. Most DRM gets cracked very quickly, so it only deters it for like… 24 hours.

I wish I could pirate software at work, and it’s not because I want to save my company money. It’s because it’s less of a pain. Enterprise licenses are jank af.

[Gonassis]

21 hours ago, Crazycrab said:

Oh for fucks sake!  Denuvo is useless!  Customers (especially on PC) know it's useless, developers know it's useless, even publishers know it's useless.  the only reason anybody uses it is so say they can claim that they are doing something about the money their not loosing to piracy.  Denuvo is usually cracked within 24 hours and even if it isn't, the customer base that do have a legit copy that they paid for have to suffer.  This is without considering the hypothesis that piracy doesn't actually loose these companies any profit.  Think about it, if you would rather go through the hassle of downloading a cracked version of a game that probably has tonnes of adware bollocks then you obviously weren't willing to buy the game in the first place!  For game publishers piracy is an enemy that doesn't exist.

Yeah, I swear, I've talked to people who buy the games, but then go and download the crack version, so they just won't have headaches.
Why do they even bother at this point if it's cracked within 24 hours.

They're just antagonizing more people. 🤔

 

Once it's announce that a game has denuvo on it, the crackers start the countdown on the game, ready to crack once it comes out.

The more people they annoy, the more people who buy games even start donating some spare change to the crackers, because they do a better job. 🤷‍♂️

[Gonassis]

7 hours ago, Grungie said:

Honestly, anti-piracy tends to make it more of a pain for legit customers than the pirates. Most DRM gets cracked very quickly, so it only deters it for like… 24 hours.

I wish I could pirate software at work, and it’s not because I want to save my company money. It’s because it’s less of a pain. Enterprise licenses are jank af.

yeah enterprise licenses are a bit hard to work with. 😅

also, according to what I read from how to geek's article below, about Denuvo being cracked in 24 hours, that happens most of the time, but the longest before a game was cracked was 99 days for Assassin's Creed origins. 👇

🔵 What Is Denuvo, and Why Do Gamers Hate It?

Edited August 29, 2022 by Gonassis

[Syntax]

I'm sure that those who want to play it on a non-switch, will find ways to bypass this specific DRM aspect to be fair. I mean it's already being done with older consoles and their DRM specific games/content.

[killamch89]

Denuvo reminds me of some ancient tale of a horrible monster that got sealed away but could come back at any second. It incites panic from gamers when we hear that word.

[Heatman]

This kind of thing have been happening for a very long time and it doesn't seem like it's ending anytime soon. With Denuvo, there's no security at all for your games. It's the last thing that I'm ever going to use. 

[runswithspatulas]

as long as it doesn't keep me from re-downloading a game when need be i don't much care.

[killamch89]

On 9/18/2022 at 5:59 PM, runswithspatulas said:

as long as it doesn't keep me from re-downloading a game when need be i don't much care.

You're only saying that because you've never had to play a game that has Denuvo's anti-piracy software and it starts affecting your gaming experience. Trust me, you will care then.

[runswithspatulas]

6 hours ago, killamch89 said:

You're only saying that because you've never had to play a game that has Denuvo's anti-piracy software and it starts affecting your gaming experience. Trust me, you will care then.

You're right I never had it. How does it affect the gaming experience?

[runswithspatulas]

On 9/18/2022 at 5:28 PM, Heatman said:

This kind of thing have been happening for a very long time and it doesn't seem like it's ending anytime soon. With Denuvo, there's no security at all for your games. It's the last thing that I'm ever going to use. 

what do you mean no security at all for your games?