Irdeto is a brand that some may not be familiar with, but many will know the name of their controversial anti-piracy software, Denuvo. After attempting to crack down on the piracy of PC games, Irdeto has set its sights on the Nintendo Switch. Believing piracy to be rampant on the platform, either through modded consoles or emulation, Irdeto has unveiled their aptly named "Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection" technology.

As with all other Denuvo solutions, the technology integrates seamlessly into the build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience. It then allows for the insertion of checks into the code, which blocks gameplay on emulators.

They claim that their solution, which would run similarly to Denuvo, would have occasional checks to ensure the software was legitimate, and prevent the games that use it from being emulated. Irdeto also promises that there is no impact on the gaming performance with it enabled, a claim that has led to many controversies in the past with Denuvo.

Beyond the press release, there's not much known about the Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection, when it will launch, and what games it will launch with. By the phrasing in the announcement, however, it appears that Irdeto is targeting indie developers or third-party studios more than they are Nintendo itself, specifically for multi-platform games that can be protected from piracy on both PC and Switch.

Source

 

[TomSwitch]

Oh no, if Switch isn't slow enough now they want to adding Denuvo like disease to slow it further.

 

[Kioku]

Genuinely curious to see what comes of this...

 

[ZeroT21]

Guess emulator users are all pirates to them, I wonder how said company think they are relevant when the switch generation ends

 

[ZeroFX]

Ready to be cracked again it seems.

 

[m00k00]

If you don't want me to spend money on your game ship it with Denuvo. If you want me to stay online because of your shitty Anti-Privacy Solution even in a Single Player Games ... that's another reason I won't spend my money on your shit. Honestly, I've never seen proof how this Anti-Privacy Stuff actually boosted any Number of Sales, ever.

 

[Kioku]

If you don't want me to spend money on your game ship it with Denuvo. If you want me to stay online because of your shitty Anti-Privacy Solution even in a Single Player Games ... that's another reason I won't spend my money on your shit. Honestly, I've never seen proof how this Anti-Privacy Stuff actually boosted any Number of Sales, ever.

The idea isn't necessarily to boost sales... But to ensure early sales numbers are good. Which is really stupid.. If people are already emulating the games, they're probably not looking to purchase it in the first place.

 

[yoyoyo69]

All this does is pass on additional costs to the end user. You're essentially paying more to have a more buggy or less responsive device/application, regardless what Denuva clearly say.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I clicked SOURCE

but the page won't load anything.

 

[m00k00]

The idea isn't necessarily to boost sales... But to ensure early sales numbers are good. Which is really stupid.. If people are already emulating the games, they're probably not looking to purchase it in the first place.

Nowadays Games are of bad Quality at Release most of the Times, anyway. So I guess this Argument doesn't really make Sense in the End, right?

 

[tech3475]

Nowadays Games are of bad Quality at Release most of the Times, anyway. So I guess this Argument doesn't really make Sense in the End, right?

Plot twist: Publishers only implement this to give them excuses for how bad their games run.

 

[m00k00]

I clicked SOURCE

but the page won't load anything.

Same for me. It says: "504 Gateway Time-out" ... who of you peeps is running a DDoS against them right now?

 

[Bladexdsl]

10 FPS games here we go!

 

[Localhorst86]

Same for me. It says: "504 Gateway Time-out" ... who of you peeps is running a DDoS against them right now?

Website as stable as their anti piracy

 

[masagrator]

10 FPS games here we go!

There are already games doing this without Denuvo

 

[Kioku]

Nowadays Games are of bad Quality at Release most of the Times, anyway. So I guess this Argument doesn't really make Sense in the End, right?

No, it really doesn't make sense. Pirates gonna pirate.... I really would love to see the data that proves the correlation between piracy and week one sales.

 

[m00k00]

Website as stable as their anti piracy

Indeed. Maybe people are so deperate that they keep pressing F5 in their Browser to finally read the great Announcement of the Denuvo Folks. Like usual: Not every Hero is wearing a Cape, I guess

 

[Chrisssj2]

For this nintendo switch? i mean its already nearing end life span..?

 

[mrgone]

release groups will welcome the challenge though
will give proper creds

 

[tofino]

so does this mean we are getting cracktros again?!

 

[mituzora]

oh lovely. these will be patched out quickly.

DRM never fully works. Whether it be regular checks, or it be a code wheel, they all get cracked at some point. The only thing that has some solidarity is phoning home regularly, and depending on the software, that's even patched out most of the time.

Nintendo, you're shooting yourself in the foot. it also doesn't seem like this is going to affect piracy on consoles in the slightest because they run natively, without emulation. I'm sure a good chunk of piracy is being done on CFW, and this doesn't change that one bit.