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Denuvo, the infamous company on which game developers rely on to implement DRM to almost every new release nowadays, to varying degrees of performance issues and even worse user experiences, has announced today that their protection technologies are now available and accessible as an authorized Nintendo Switch "middleware" in the Nintendo Developer Portal (NDP).

This means that now developers working on Nintendo Switch titles or ports now have the accessibility and option to add Denuvo's anti-piracy protection, which they titled "Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection". Their goal is to disallow any new game release from running in Nintendo Switch emulators, although this remains yet to be seen and properly tested from the end-user perspective. It is currently unknown how they would check between an emulator and real-hardware, but we can be sure that the current emulator developers (be it Yuzu or Ryujinx) will catch unto it and go into details about it when they find a game that uses it.

Denuvo released a following statement regarding Nintendo Switch games that are released as multi-platform and their emulation on day one in comparison with other consoles/PC:

Even if a game is protected against piracy on its PC version, the version released on Nintendo Switch can be emulated from day one and played on PC, therefore bypassing the strong protections offered on the PC version. This can happen with any of the numerous games available on Nintendo Switch.

By blocking unauthorized emulations on PC, studios are able to increase their revenue during the game launch window, which is the most important period for monetization. The Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure that anyone wishing to play the game has to buy a legitimate copy.

Alongside this statement, Denuvo claims that "the technology integrates seamlessly into the build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience", but given almost every release that uses it and comparisons in performance between before and after the removal of Denuvo's DRM from known games, it's doubtful that this will be the case. To close it up, the CEO of Irdeto, Doug Lowther, said the following:

As gamers, we know first-hand how piracy negatively affects the gaming industry. We’re thrilled to be part of the Nintendo Developers Portal, so that we can provide the latest technologies to help fight this issue for Nintendo Switch players and developers.

We witness an increasing need to protect against emulation on PC from game launch, our solution is a must have for publishers to monetize the games fairly on this platform and also not impact PC game sales.

Additionally, it remains to be seen just how this would affect gamer that don't connect their Nintendo Switch to the internet, or only use it for handheld gaming with no internet connection, given how the DRM is known to do its checks with a connection to the internet, as having a hybrid console this means that the system wouldn't always have an internet connection available.

Source

 

[Xzi]

Just in time for Switch's end of life, lmao. Bunch of clowns.

 

[ChaoticPumpkin]

So, if Denuvo can ruin games even on high end hardware, I'm guessing it'll just make the switch blow up.

 

[SylverReZ]

So, if Denuvo can ruin games even on high end hardware, I'm guessing it'll just make the switch blow up.

Hey everyone! Download our new game, I promise it won't blow your e-fuses and destroy your console altogether. Honest.

 

[SeventhSon7]

So Switch games will be playable online only?

 

[supergamer368]

Sick! This will stop no piracy whatsoever and cause issues for users who legitimately bought the game! Just like regular denuvo, but now you can have performance drops and activation errors on the go!

If the art on that tweet really was AI-generated, that'd make this whole thing even funnier. Market your anti-theft tools with what's essentially mass theft of artwork.

 

[Chrisssj2]

Will this have any meaning for pppl who play their games on real hardware?

 

[altorn]

So people will have to decide now:
Don't play the game illegally, or play the game legally but with worse performance?
The game dev will get some more revenue, then IGN and Gamespot give it 5/10 for lags. People will not want to buy because of bad reviews. And the people who bought will want refunds too.

I dunno, seems like everyone wins in the end...........................................................

 

[Hassal]

Either this person that gave them this idea is a genius or someone that just graduated from clown town.

The switch is already crappy enough to handle its own shit let alone adding overheads. Not only that, the console already entered its expiry period.

 

[SeventhSon7]

Will this have any meaning for pppl who play their games on real hardware?

see the post above yours

short version: denuvo dingleberries games

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

I bet Team Xecutor could have cracked it.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Not everyone who uses emulation wants to pirate. This is actually gonna make it harder to preserve games. Durn you Denovo!

 

[DragonMals]

I don't like the sound of this at all....

Duenvo is like the main component of making things much slower...... Almost all Sega games I know have it and they run poorly on potatos and even high-end PCs.

 

[Hassal]

I don't like the sound of this at all....

Duenvo is like the main component of making things much slower...... Almost all Sega games I know have it and they run poorly on potatos and even high-end PCs.

It's going to be the usual suspects that might start using it... Capcom, Sega and SE. I doubt any other dev will pay for this intrusive software.

 

[eriol33]

that's funny. no one is using switch to emulate non-nintendo games that are already available on PC.

 

[DragonMals]

I can't wait until people immediately find a workaround to this if Switch games are actually going to start using this.

 

[LightBeam]

Are they really worried about the 2 persons who have played Sonic Frontiers on Yuzu because the PC version has denuvo ??????

 

[HackedUnpatchedSwitch]

I doubt this will be used to counter cfw switches. propably only to detect if it's running on an emulator.

edit: I should have first read the article ...

Also the CFW switches will be affected by the Denuvo DRM?

 

[switchhunter666]

Also the CFW switches will be affected by the Denuvo DRM?

Yes until they figure it out... but we have nothing to worry as no game has it yet

 

[HackedUnpatchedSwitch]

Yes until they figure it out... but we have nothing to worry as no game has it yet

Yeah but i want to play Hogwarts Legacy on switch. It will be the first game that applies Denuvo (in my opinion at least). I hope that atmosphere implements some sigpatches for Denuvo.

 

[Attila13]

Cool...Just what the doctor ordered...
It's not enough that the big majority of the games run like crap...make them run even worse...
Best decision ever!