As always, DRM continues to be a controversial subject in the realm of PC gaming. We recently saw GOG take a rather vocal stance against competitors that use DRM. Denuvo, the largest source of ire in regards to the situation, had an interview with media site gamesindustry.biz at this year's Gamescom. Elmar Fischer, the sales director at Denuvo made some statements, reflecting on the past issues that the company had in 2017, and admitting that there's really no "uncrackable" PC game in the industry, as there will always be people there to crack the DRM of games.

According to the interview, the main goal of implementing Denuvo is to secure launch sales for a given title. Even if only a small percentage of those who pirate the game would have purchased it if it wasn't cracked, Fischer says it's still worth it, in terms of sale revenue. Lucas Catranis, director of piracy management at Iredeto, Denuvo's parent company, says it's difficult to gauge how many people actually buy the games when there's no other option, as he monitors r/crackwatch to keep updated on the pirate situation.

Our goal, and it's still the goal, is to protect initial sales. Of course we would like to have it uncracked forever, but that just doesn't happen in the games industry.

It's a really tough one for us to answer straight," says Fischer. "For the games we protect, I think we have a huge impact, especially if we secure the initial sales window then we see a dramatic on the game and also the revenue when you compare it to other games that have been cracked immediately, but for the industry as a whole, it's very tough to answer.

Denuvo's effect on the industry has seen AAA games take far longer to crack as opposed to games with little to no anti-piracy protection. This isn't always the case, however, with some games like Resident Evil 7, and Final Fantasy XV being cracked near instantly after release. A positive effect could be argued for more niche games that lasted longer against cracks and managing to sell well, like Nier: Automata and Injustice 2.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz

 

[gudenau]

Remove it when it's cracked then. :V

 

[Deleted User]

DRM is the justice that the piracy community deserves. DRM like Denuvo has so many downsides and we can all sympathize for customers who pay the price in full but at the same time we shouldn't be blind to the cause of it all, people who pirate games.

If there was no need for DRM then it wouldn't exist in the first place.

 

[RedoLane]

Irony

 

[Chary]

The cat and mouse game that crackers and Denuvo play is quite interesting to watch. As stated above, I feel like Denuvo should be removed once its cracked, so that the customer benefits from it, too. But the chances of that are slim, since companies pay a licensing cost to use Denuvo, and it'd look bad of them to have to remove it, from a business standpoint, I feel.

 

[Subtle Demise]

Cool, when are you dropping the charges against voksi then?

 

[osaka35]

So then why legally go after people who break the locks?

 

[tech3475]

Even if its uncracked, I’d like to see it removed after some time e.g. a month.

 

[ken28]

shameless copy of my comment on another site:
"
Or devs could just make good, complete and bug free games (well no major game bugs atleast).

The Witcher 3 showed that that works quite well But that would require serious work and just putting in drm and hoping that most people won't refund is easier
"

 

[Subtle Demise]

So then why legally go after people who break the locks?

There are legitimate reasons for cracking DRM. Breaking locks, not so much.

 

[JoeBloggs777]

Cool, when are you dropping the charges against voksi then?

If Voksi had not been caught they wouldn't be so smug, he could have done same day or next day cracks.

 

[erikas]

DRM is the justice that the piracy community deserves. DRM like Denuvo has so many downsides and we can all sympathize for customers who pay the price in full but at the same time we shouldn't be blind to the cause of it all, people who pirate games.

If there was no need for DRM then it wouldn't exist in the first place.

Except pirates get the game WITHOUT DRM. Everyone else is being punished.

 

[ken28]

DRM is the justice that the piracy community deserves. DRM like Denuvo has so many downsides and we can all sympathize for customers who pay the price in full but at the same time we shouldn't be blind to the cause of it all, people who pirate games.

If there was no need for DRM then it wouldn't exist in the first place.

yet drm backfired more then once. still remember back with one anno game.
Legit buyers where meet with a messages telling them they cant play due overcrowded server... meanwhile the pirates had the game halfway through.... yeah a very good compromise.

 

[Subtle Demise]

Also, there are uncrackable games. They are the online-only games like Diablo 3 and Sim City. I mean, someone could write a custom server, but then it's not really cracking anymore, is it?

 

[ken28]

Also, there are uncrackable games. They are the online-only games like Diablo 3 and Sim City. I mean, someone could write a custom server, but then it's not really cracking anymore, is it?

if i remember right sim city online has/had a offline crack but even then there is a superior paid crack which even somtimes is on sales called cities skyline

 

[Subtle Demise]

if i remember right sim city online has/had a offline crack but even then there is a superior paid crack which even somtimes is on sales called cities skyline

Well, EA released an official offline patch, which is what got cracked. Diablo 3 also got a console release, so that was easily pirated too. If both games had stayed online-only though, they would have never gotten cracked.

 

[MasterJ360]

DRM is the justice that the piracy community deserves. DRM like Denuvo has so many downsides and we can all sympathize for customers who pay the price in full but at the same time we shouldn't be blind to the cause of it all, people who pirate games.

If there was no need for DRM then it wouldn't exist in the first place.

But that doesn't mean they should punish those who purchased the games by keeping them captive requiring Online access to play them. Accepting the fact pirates exists kinda makes their goal pointless. Enforcing DRM hasn't really made a dramatic effect b/c games are still getting cracked

 

[linuxares]

I got to say they have managed quite well before Voski enter the picture. I don't know how good CPY is at cracking the latest version, but time will tell I guess?

 

[JoeBloggs777]

I got to say they have managed quite well before Voski enter the picture. I don't know how good CPY is at cracking the latest version, but time will tell I guess?

I'm sure if they wanted to CPY can crack it, but now with CDX releasing some older updated games it will not be long before they can crack the lastest version to.

 

[mancasoko]

These days things looks like this.