id Software to remove new Denuvo anti-cheat from DOOM Eternal after major backlash

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DOOM Eternal will soon get an update to patch out a previous update from last week, which added in a form of Denuvo for anti-cheat measures. Following the addition of the anti-cheat to the PC version of the game, fans began to review bomb Doom Eternal on Steam, demand a refund, or show their disappointment across social media. The anti-cheat also appeared to introduce new bugs to the game, with many reporting performance issues and rampant crashing that would render the game unplayable. Publisher Bethesda mentioned that they were looking into the source of the update's performance problems.

A few days later, id Software's executive producer took to Reddit to announce that due to the instability and performance issues, a new v1.1 update would be issued soon to players on PC. According to the developers, Denuvo anti-cheat was added as an update to prevent cheaters from taking over the game's online BATTLEMODE and because "players were disappointed on DOOM 2016" for not including an anti-cheat closer to launch to combat hackers online. After the negative response to the new anti-cheat, id stated that they would be removing it from the game in the impending update, though they claim that the performance issues were not related in any form to Denuvo, instead attributing the problems to a new code change made to VRAM allocation, which will also be fixed with the patch.

Currently, there is no date for the release of the v1.1 patch.

I want to provide our PC community the latest information on a number of topics related to Update 1, which we released this past Thursday. Our team has been looking into the reports of instability and performance degradation for some users and we’ve also seen the concerns around our inclusion of Denuvo Anti-Cheat. As is often the case, things are not as clear-cut as they may seem, so I’d like to include the latest information on the actions we’re taking, as well as offer some context around the decisions we’ve made. We are preparing and testing PC-Only Update 1.1 that includes the changes and fixes noted below. We hope to have this rolled-out to players within a week.

Our team’s original decision to include Denuvo Anti-Cheat in Update 1 was based on a number of factors:

  • Protect BATTLEMODE players from cheaters now, but also establish consistent anti-cheat systems and processes as we look ahead to more competitive initiatives on our BATTLEMODE roadmap

  • Establish cheat protection in the campaign now in preparation for the future launch of Invasion – which is a blend of campaign and multiplayer

  • Kernel-level integrations are typically the most effective in preventing cheating

  • Denuvo’s integration met our standards for security and privacy

  • Players were disappointed on DOOM (2016) with our delay in adding anti-cheat technology to protect that game’s multiplayer
Despite our best intentions, feedback from players has made it clear that we must re-evaluate our approach to anti-cheat integration. With that, we will be removing the anti-cheat technology from the game in our next PC update. As we examine any future of anti-cheat in DOOM Eternal, at a minimum we must consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed, as well as ensure the overall timing of any anti-cheat integration better aligns with player expectations around clear initiatives – like ranked or competitive play – where demand for anti-cheat is far greater.

It is important to note that our decision to include anti-cheat was guided by nothing other than the factors and goals I’ve outlined above – all driven by our team at id Software. I have seen speculation online that Bethesda (our parent company and publisher) is forcing these or other decisions on us, and it’s simply untrue. It’s also worth noting that our decision to remove the anti-cheat software is not based on the quality of the Denuvo Anti-Cheat solution. Many have unfortunately related the performance and stability issues introduced in Update 1 to the introduction of anti-cheat. They are not related.

Through our investigation, we discovered and have fixed several crashes in our code related to customizable skins. We were also able to identify and fix a number of other memory-related crashes that should improve overall stability for players. All of these fixes will be in our next PC update. I’d like to note that some of these issues were very difficult to reproduce and we want to thank a number of our community members who worked directly with our engineers to identify and help reproduce these issues.

Finally, we believe the performance issues some players have experienced on PC are based on a code change we made around VRAM allocation. We have reverted this change in our next update and expect the game to perform as it did at launch.

Please stay tuned to the official DOOM Eternal community channels for more on the roll-out of this update. As always, thank you for your passion and commitment to DOOM Eternal.

Marty Stratton
Executive Producer, DOOM Eternal

:arrow: Source
 

Silent_Gunner

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I'm so glad I didn't start playing this game this week with this shit.

Angry mob wins again

Angry mob with a legitimate point of objection I'd say considering that Denuvo Anti-Cheat is a rootkit, and that, after SF5 tried to implement this (and supposedly was removed in a subsequent update) and that Valorant did the same thing, I can legit forsee this thing becoming a new normal with PC ports considering that it's always about "MUH PIRACY PREVENTION" when people literally commented that shit like this gives pirates a better experience than paying customers!
 

Xzi

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They didn't exactly have a choice but to fix this disaster, what with a DRM-free (and mostly issue-free) version of the game floating around on the net. Guess I'll once again plan on buying it once it's cheap enough, assuming this patch thoroughly fixes things.

Oh, and it goes without saying, but fuck Denuvo regardless of which form it takes.
 
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Bladexdsl

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had absolutely nothing to do with performance issues. people were bitching because they couldn't cheat. kiss battlemode goodbye than hackers will take over that glad i dumped this game so early.
 
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Silent_Gunner

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had absolutely nothing to do with performance issues. people were bitching because they couldn't cheat. kiss battlemode goodbye than hackers will take over that glad i dumped this game so early.

Yeah...not all of us play DOOM for multiplayer. There's probably other alternatives for the arena shooting genre that are better in the multiplayer department and don't require installing a fucking rootkit to Ring 0 of your Windows installation (and probably Linux if you're using Steam Proton, couldn't say for sure, though) to "prevent cheaters, piracy, and whatever else masks our true desires and sounds reasonable to normies."
 

xdarkx

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Denuvo Anti-tamper = DRM. This is meant for preventing people from cracking the game and pirating it.

Denuvo Anti-cheat is for preventing cheating. In this case, it's suppose to be for multiplayer. Though for whatever reason, you need to run this sketchy anti-cheat driver even if you are playing just single player.
 

tech3475

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had absolutely nothing to do with performance issues. people were bitching because they couldn't cheat. kiss battlemode goodbye than hackers will take over that glad i dumped this game so early.

You're thinking of anti-tamper in regards to performance.

The issue with Anti-cheat is that it's a kernel mode/ring 0 driver, which means that it has full access to your system which has created concerns about privacy, stability and security.

You also need it just for single player, so even those who don't care for MP like myself would be forced to install it.

I heard it also broke the game for Linux.

So people are mad that they made it so you can't cheat? Or that the anti cheat made the game not function well? I'm confused. :blink:

(This is probably why I don't play bethesda games)

See above.
 

Sonic Angel Knight

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You're thinking of anti-tamper in regards to performance.

The issue with Anti-cheat is that it's a kernel mode/ring 0 driver, which means that it has full access to your system which has created concerns about privacy, stability and security.

You also need it just for single player, so even those who don't care for MP like myself would be forced to install it.

I heard it also broke the game for Linux.
Well that certainly makes more sense, I wouldn't want that on my system either. I may not be using linux, but that's still bad it not only breaks your game, invades your privacy. :blink:
 

Xzi

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had absolutely nothing to do with performance issues. people were bitching because they couldn't cheat. kiss battlemode goodbye than hackers will take over that glad i dumped this game so early.
Denuvo anti-cheat is still going to be in the game, but it'll only activate when you play multiplayer. Right now it's turned on even if you're just playing single-player, which is pointless unless they were planning on adding in MTX.
 

yoyoyo69

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You're thinking of anti-tamper in regards to performance.

The issue with Anti-cheat is that it's a kernel mode/ring 0 driver, which means that it has full access to your system which has created concerns about privacy, stability and security.

You also need it just for single player, so even those who don't care for MP like myself would be forced to install it.

I heard it also broke the game for Linux.



See above.

Finally someone with a little common sense, I detest cheats, I think they're pathetic, but the issue here is the retroactive addition of what in most other situations, would be referred to as a rootkit. Unfortunately, tackling cheating is a perpetual, costly affair, more so without resorting to these measures (but they could have announced it at the very least before launch, not slip it in after purchase).
 
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grey72

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Denuvo anti-cheat is still going to be in the game, but it'll only activate when you play multiplayer. Right now it's turned on even if you're just playing single-player, which is pointless unless they were planning on adding in MTX.
You're feeding a braindead troll mate, don't bother
 
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