Denuvo's Impact on Game Performance Benchmarked

[Raevenlord]

Denuvo's impact on gaming performance has been spoken of immensely - as always has been the case for any and all DRM solution that finds its way into games. However, evidence always seemed to be somewhat anecdotal on whether or not Denuvo really impacted performance - for a while, the inability to test games with Denuvo implemented and officially removed (which, unsurprisingly, isn't the same as it being cracked) was a grand stopgap to any sort of serious testing.

Now, courtesy of Overlord's YouTube channel, we can see whether or not Denuvo impacts performance. In a total of seven games tested on a platform with an Intel Core i7 2600K stock CPU (for adequate testing of whether Denuvo really impacts more the CPU than any other system component) paired with a stock clocked 1080 ti. You really should take a look at the video; it's a short, informative one, but the gist of is this: Some games revealed performance improvements with Denuvo being removed: Mass Effect: Andromeda saw a huge boost from an average of 57 FPS all the way to 64 FPS due to the removal of the DRM solution; and Mad Max saw a more meager 54 to 60 FPS increase. The other games (which included Hitman, Abzu, and others, didn't see any performance difference.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Ahhzz]

I gotta question your conclusion here...
"Mass Effect: Andromeda saw a huge boost from an average of 57 FPS all the way to 64 FPS due to the removal of the DRM solution; and Mad Max saw a more meager 54 to 60 FPS increase "
64-57 = 7 "huge"
60-54 = 6 "meager"

that's a really fine line... Not so many superlatives?

 

[dirtyferret]

I gotta question your conclusion here...
"Mass Effect: Andromeda saw a huge boost from an average of 57 FPS all the way to 64 FPS due to the removal of the DRM solution; and Mad Max saw a more meager 54 to 60 FPS increase "
64-57 = 7 "huge"
60-54 = 6 "meager"

that's a really fine line... Not so many superlatives?

in fact they are both 12% increases, also everyone knows the only way to increase FPS in the same hardware is to add RGB.

 

[Space Lynx]

wow min fps in mass effect is huge.... 46 fps with denuvo and 67 without... min fps is a key indocator of smoothness overall which is why i still choose intel over amd as it beats by 10 min fps across the board, add in another 20 for removing denuvo, thats 30 min fps gain... wow...

 

[the54thvoid]

in fact they are both 12% increases, also everyone knows the only way to increase FPS in the same hardware is to add RGB.

Lol. Moar RGB FTW.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Its obviously hindering. Can we get rid of it finally?

 

[Sp33d Junki3]

mass effect andromeda patch 1.9 removed Denovo DRM from the game last year.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

at least EA did something right about the whole "lets remove DRM once in a while" thingy. meanwhile... MHW are tanking low-mid end PCs with their Denuvo "protection" & outdated game engine which is not even UE3.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Denuvo continues to prove how worthless it is, lowering performance and being circumvented in a short period of time.

How is this company still in business?

 

[Eroticus]

Denuvo helps you to save some cash !

167w vs 200w (GPU power)

137w vs 175W


Thanks denuvo! .....

 

[HimymCZe]

... think what you like, but I'm not buying this.
After Voksi case I'm not buying some fake PR stunt desperately begging for karma.

 

[eidairaman1]

This anti-piracy software has caused games to crash too

 

[RejZoR]

The fact you lose even 1 frame per second because of some unrelated shit is idiotic.

 

[Space Lynx]

Denuvo continues to prove how worthless it is, lowering performance and being circumvented in a short period of time.

How is this company still in business?

The latest iterations of Denuvo have not even come close to being cracked yet. Jurassic World Evolution came out how long ago, and still hasn't been cracked. I almost wonder if Denuvo has won the long game finally. If it ever reaches 6 months and no cracks I'd say they win, since most fiscal sales are within 6 months.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Denuvo helps you to save some cash !

167w vs 200w (GPU power)

137w vs 175W


Thanks denuvo! .....

What about the CPU overhead?

 

[neatfeatguy]

The latest iterations of Denuvo have not even come close to being cracked yet. Jurassic World Evolution came out how long ago, and still hasn't been cracked. I almost wonder if Denuvo has won the long game finally. If it ever reaches 6 months and no cracks I'd say they win, since most fiscal sales are within 6 months.

Jurassic World Evolution released on PC June 12, 2018.

I don't know about other digital sites if they sell the game or console platforms, but the numbers on Steam look abysmal (average player numbers).
Around 20.5k for the month of June.
Around 4.3k for the month of July.
Around 2.9K so far for the month of August
( https://steamcharts.com/app/648350#All )

Perhaps the game isn't worth anyone's time to try and crack?

 

[Space Lynx]

Jurassic World Evolution released on PC June 12, 2018.

I don't know about other digital sites if they sell the game or console platforms, but the numbers on Steam look abysmal (average player numbers).
Around 20.5k for the month of June.
Around 4.3k for the month of July.
Around 2.9K so far for the month of August
( https://steamcharts.com/app/648350#All )

Perhaps the game isn't worth anyone's time to try and crack?

it all depends how big there team and budget was though doesn't it? if they sold 50,000 copies, thats 3 million dollars, and if there team was only 25 people lets say, thats still a net profit even after 1 year salaries for all 25. again i had no idea how long it took to make this game, but yeah

 

[Vayra86]

I remember saying this many times and the response was usually 'can't be that bad - or - there are no results anywhere that show it'.

Well. There u have it

 

[FordGT90Concept]

it all depends how big there team and budget was though doesn't it? if they sold 50,000 copies, thats 3 million dollars, and if there team was only 25 people lets say, thats still a net profit even after 1 year salaries for all 25. again i had no idea how long it took to make this game, but yeah

Jurassic World Evolution Hits 1 Million Copies Sold

Just because it may be doing poorly on Steam doesn't mean it isn't doing fantastic on PlayStation and Xbox. Unless a publisher comments on it during an earnings call, we never know.

 

[D1RTYD1Z619]

in fact they are both 12% increases, also everyone knows the only way to increase FPS in the same hardware is to add RGB.

Listen to the person everyone. They know what they are talking about. I'm being serious.

 

[yotano211]

Jurassic World Evolution Hits 1 Million Copies Sold

Just because it may be doing poorly on Steam doesn't mean it isn't doing fantastic on PlayStation and Xbox. Unless a publisher comments on it during an earnings call, we never know.

And most people dont leave a review on steam. I have bought many games on steam and let to leave any review or comment on any game.

 

[ZeppMan217]

Jurassic World Evolution released on PC June 12, 2018.

I don't know about other digital sites if they sell the game or console platforms, but the numbers on Steam look abysmal (average player numbers).
Around 20.5k for the month of June.
Around 4.3k for the month of July.
Around 2.9K so far for the month of August
( https://steamcharts.com/app/648350#All )

Perhaps the game isn't worth anyone's time to try and crack?

These metrics are no longer reliable since Steam switched user profile's game ownership from public to private by default.

 

[Eroticus]

Jurassic World Evolution released on PC June 12, 2018.

I don't know about other digital sites if they sell the game or console platforms, but the numbers on Steam look abysmal (average player numbers).
Around 20.5k for the month of June.
Around 4.3k for the month of July.
Around 2.9K so far for the month of August
( https://steamcharts.com/app/648350#All )

Perhaps the game isn't worth anyone's time to try and crack?

These stats does not say anything....

60k players at peak, acording to Steamspy - 500k-1m owners.

example - Doom had 30k players at peak.

 

[Space Lynx]

Jurassic World Evolution Hits 1 Million Copies Sold

Just because it may be doing poorly on Steam doesn't mean it isn't doing fantastic on PlayStation and Xbox. Unless a publisher comments on it during an earnings call, we never know.

1 million at $50 net profit per each one sold... I know there is a lot of overhead, but on same hand, thats some nice bank if your a small team.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

What a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Denovo phones home at random, doesn't it? I think some of these benchmarks caught it and some did not. If they kept testing them over and over until they caught Denovo phoning home, there would probably be the observed 12% FPS penalty in all games.

After playing 100 hours of Hitman, I can definitively tell you that Hitman still has some kind of DRM check that interrupts gameplay (e.g. 47 drops the body he is dragging) but it isn't all of the time.