Is Denuvo Falling Out of Favor? Another Bandai Namco Release Sheds the DRM Tech

[Raevenlord]

Denuvo's technology has fallen out of efficacy, at least, with recent game releases sporting the technology being, overall, quickly cracked (some exceptions, that confirm the rule, exist, of course). However, the usual sales pitch of "protecting games' launch windows, where most of the revenue is made" hasn't been reflected on some of the high profile game releases as of late. While the market has kept using Denuvo technology as a DRM ftowards curbing piracy efforts, it seems that the technology's cost-to-profit ratio isn't working out so well for some companies to include it - such as Bandai Namco.

the company has recently launched God Eater 3, which shunned the Denuvo DRM solution in favor of more classic solutions (Steam). Ace Combat 7 still included the protection, and stands uncracked as of yet (12 days and counting). God Eater 3, which launched 4 days later, didn't include the protection, and the company's Jump Force videogame, launched just yesterday, didn't pack Denuvo either. This means that these two latest game releases have already been cracked, while Ace Combat 7 is holding out strong. Perhaps this signals an experiment being taken on at Bandai Namco's headquarters regarding the benefits of Denuvo usage, though it seems that a game like Ace Combat 7, which will likely sell particularly well in the western market compared to the other releases, did justify Denuvo more than the other releases - but only Bandai Namco knows whether this signals a shift in direction or not.



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[Basard]

Nobody wants it... you can be sure that any good game will lack it. People will actually give money to things that they like. Strange concept........

PC gamers actually upgrade their hardware and don't want their keys to expire--ever.

 

[sam_86314]

Good on them. Companies need to realize the best DRM is a good product. Compete with piracy, don’t try to stop it.

Regarding Denuvo: I wish I could make a product that everyone insists on buying even though it doesn’t work.

 

[Eroticus]

Nobody wants it... you can be sure that any good game will lack it. People will actually give money to things that they like. Strange concept........

PC gamers actually upgrade their hardware and don't want their keys to expire--ever.

This isn't true, and PC vs XBOX or PS4 has lowest sales over AAA single titles.
Just look on metro 2 great games, and the new one changed store and look on all the cry babies, "i won't buy it, i will steal it"

btw why no one talking about something that is working ? UWP.

 

[c2DDragon]

SEGA removed it recently for Yakuza Kiwami : Removed 3rd-Party DRM – Denuvo Anti-tamper January 22, 2019 – 15:20:09 UTC Change #U:9928093 (https://steamdb.info/app/834530/history/)
Players don't want this thing interacting with their computer, it's a good thing the market realizes this thing doesn't protect enough and that players see it as a plague.

 

[Shambles1980]

This isn't true, and PC vs XBOX or PS4 has lowest sales over AAA single titles.
Just look on metro 2 great games, and the new one changed store and look on all the cry babies, "i won't buy it, i will steal it"



View attachment 116397

btw why no one talking about something that is working ? UWP.

in 2017 and 2018 pc game sales were almost the same as all console sales combined..
28% of all game sales in 2017 were on pc and 29% were on console (thats every console combined)
and 2018 saw pc take up 24% and consoles combined do 25%..
Every console in the world combined ONLY just about sell more than pc's..

also forza uses windows store always on requierment drm not denuvo... Not entierly sure you are in the right thread??

 

[trparky]

Forza uses Windows Store always-on requirement DRM not Denuvo.

The only saving grace about the Windows Store DRM is that it doesn't cause a game to run like hot garbage like Denuvo does.

 

[Tartaros]

This isn't true, and PC vs XBOX or PS4 has lowest sales over AAA single titles.
Just look on metro 2 great games, and the new one changed store and look on all the cry babies, "i won't buy it, i will steal it"

You aren't counting long term sellings over the years. While in console you have to go to the second hand market, in pc you just need to wait some years and a good sale to buy a game you didn't have interest in its release but with a lower price point you might dig in and will count towards total sales to the publisher while the second hand game won't, not counting a console will be left when the next comes out while pc games will last forever. Be assured any game will sell a whole lot more in pc than in consoles in its entire life, if that wasn't the case Sega wouldn't be publishing anything they can, even Mega Drive/Genesis games, in pc.

By the way, you must have been under a rock in the last months or something, but people is pissed at the publisher of Metro because they changed distribution and denied the default platform for pc gaming just a month before releasing the game. If they said they were publishing it only in Epic since the beginning there wouldn't be such a drama. Sure there is people not wanting to play it if is not on Steam/GOG, but that's more of a personal choice rather than a protest against bad practices, which is the case of Metro.

btw why no one talking about something that is working ? UWP.

You can be assured anyone who is interested in a certain game will wait on metacritic analysis and/or will buy it on launch, not because it has or not a crappy DRM in it. It has been proved several times that intrusive DRMs have derrailed sells, the Witcher 2 comes to mind. In fact, a lot of DRMed games have removed it later patches because it caused system instability.

This discussion has been held several times over the years and DRM has been proven to be an annoyance rather than a help to the industry and users. It's just beating a dead horse at this point.

 

[Manu_PT]

in 2017 and 2018 pc game sales were almost the same as all console sales combined..
28% of all game sales in 2017 were on pc and 29% were on console (thats every console combined)
and 2018 saw pc take up 24% and consoles combined do 25%..
Every console in the world combined ONLY just about sell more than pc's..

also forza uses windows store always on requierment drm not denuvo... Not entierly sure you are in the right thread??

Sure, pubg, cs go, football manager, civilization and overwatch mostly. Now check AAA games like Assassins Creed, FIFA, etc

 

[Basard]

AAA---do not play..... junk games. It's like watching American Idol.... Yeah, sometimes, while channel surfing, your remote happens to stop upon it--they count that as a view.

 

[Shambles1980]

Sure, pubg, cs go, football manager, civilization and overwatch mostly. Now check AAA games like Assassins Creed, FIFA, etc

if you like i can check games like "the last of us", or "god of war" or rdr2 to make you feel like it proves some sort of point...


i decided to tell you why the argument is flawed.
if i generally only offer to sell pepsi in london, sometimes il offer 7up .
but i sell pepsi, tango, dr pepper and 7up in manchester but some times i wont sell pepsi in manchester for a few months.
you cant argue manchester dont drink fizzy drinks because look at how much pepsi london drinks....
its a stupid argument.

 

[Prince Valiant]

I sure hope so, the sooner DRM goes away the better.

 

[Patriot]

Not really sure multiplayer only games like pubg and overwatch care about always on drm... care about performance and drm keeping you from what you paid for.
It should never be easier to be a pirate... stop treating customers like pirates and make things convenient... Netflix showed that people are willing to pay for content when it is easy.
Metro is probably going to get cracked in record time because of all the customers they pissed off.

 

[NightOfChrist]

SEGA removed it recently for Yakuza Kiwami : Removed 3rd-Party DRM – Denuvo Anti-tamper January 22, 2019 – 15:20:09 UTC Change #U:9928093 (https://steamdb.info/app/834530/history/)
Players don't want this thing interacting with their computer, it's a good thing the market realizes this thing doesn't protect enough and that players see it as a plague.

I honestly don't mind about DRM. It may not serve any purpose for the paid customers, but it serves an obvious purpose for the game developers or publishers. So I honestly think it's completely fine to have DRM in games if the developers or publishers think it's necessary (to protect sales), but only if it screws the pirates and not us who always buy all the games we play.

I'm up for good laughters when a DRM work its magic with illegal copies of a game and make pirates think the game has some critical game-breaking bugs and they decide to let other people, including the developers, know about it and ask around, only to get one official solution: buy the game.

 

[BorgOvermind]

Still looks like the industry has no clue how to approach things.

I was writing this 10 years ago:
http://overmind.ro/DK/secuf.html

Any DRM is a cover-up in a FAILURE of a proper product.

A good product needs no DRM.

 

[Shambles1980]

I dont like always online drm, if anything happens to the servers or even your internet then you cant play the game.
I don't dislikes the idea of a decent non intrusive drm. but then people crack the things and they get more and more intrusive to try and prevent the cracks (well slow it down at least)
its a perpetual cycle of make a drm. crack the drm, make a more intrusive drm.
the only people to have issues are the people who buy the games legitimate.
i would have to wonder how many legitimate purchases they would lose to downloads if there was no drm, and i would also want to know if those losses would be offset by the savings made not developing a drm.
also to go a bit off topic.
i know some like to blame pc's for cracking but consoles have it just as bad or even worse.
with pc's cracking the games are a per game basis. but when consoles get modded then the flood gates are wide open.

 

[c2DDragon]

I honestly don't mind about DRM. It may not serve any purpose for the paid customers, but it serves an obvious purpose for the game developers or publishers. So I honestly think it's completely fine to have DRM in games if the developers or publishers think it's necessary (to protect sales), but only if it screws the pirates and not us who always buy all the games we play.

Pirates are not screwed but consumers are, with a stupid rootkit installed by force.
If the dev team & publisher know the game is good, why would they want to protect sales for ? They should know what to expect or else they don't put money in the good sections.
The best options for devs is to make a game with online features. Pirates could get the game but not with the full experience so, a few of them would buy it to enjoy, if the game worths it of course.
I see overprotected games like a hit & run. They know it will be bad, they try to be sure the few people who are interested buy it. And then of course the gamers report a lot of bugs, crashs, BSOD...devs tell them to underclock their graphic cards but it's another story...

 

[bajs11]

There should be better ways to prevent piracy of games like online multiplayer mode offered by games like Borderlands 2 or mods or dlcs that require you to launch the game through Steam, have seen that with some Fallout NV and FO4 mods.
also with sales on Steam and others being 75% or more after only a year or so of the release pirating has become much less attractive for many gamers

 

[hat]

I didn't know Ace Combat 7 came with Denuvo...

 

[Patriot]

The witchers easter egg on DRM.

 

[Lightning]

I didn't know Ace Combat 7 came with Denuvo...

It also comes in the cracked flavour.

 

[Waldschatten]

Now, if only they'd stop usng EAC as well, but getting God Eater 3 (as well as Ni No Kuni II and Tales of Vesperia) was more than expected even if I missed Jump Force for a reason other than the Denuvo that ruled out several of the others they've released..

Although, you know, at least they didn't add the creepy spyware a year after the game was released like they did with XenoVerse 2...