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

 

[raxadian]

Wanna bet this will only really inconvenience people who buys the games?

 

[Guacaholey]

Yes, an anti-piracy program that messes with game performance is the perfect fit for a console that struggles with some first party titles. If Nintendo implements this I won't buy another 3rd party title on the Switch, or any console using such shitty DRM.

Genuinely curious to see what comes of this...

A class action lawsuit when Denuvo's spaghetti code means the games people paid for can't be played properly.

 

[TomSwitch]

Denuvo-19 lock down coming, you will need to wear mask while playing

 

[dpad_5678]

This just makes me think of the 3DS anti-piracy measures that Nintendo implemented with Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing back in 2015. Sky3DS immediately released a revised version of their flashcart that bypassed the AP protection.

 

[xdarkmario]

sorry but i HOPE this crashes and BURNS!
id much rather buy my games, dump them and then play the game on my pc while my switch sits in the closet

 

[Kitocco]

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.​

Yeah sure grandpa Irdeto, let's get you to bed UuU

 

[LainaGabranth]

Someone should not work in a capitalist hellscape, underpaid as fuck for their labor, to purchase a product and still not own it despite physically holding the product and the console in their hands. This is fucking ridiculous and I cannot wait to see it hacked. Tempted to just sell my switch and buy a Steam deck to emulate all my games on from now on.

 

[Joeynator3000]

...ugh, I'm guessing this will affect modding as well...? I dunno, I heard that some Steam games couldn't be modded because of this bs.

 

[scoobydude51]

Hackers love these challenges

exactly why i'm not worried

 

[LainaGabranth]

...ugh, I'm guessing this will affect modding as well...? I dunno, I heard that some Steam games couldn't be modded because of this bs.

Correct, there are several denuvo games on steam that are increasingly difficult to properly mod outside of model replacements and such, because the exes are all encrypted. IIRC they're run in a "VM" (do not think about this like a computer VM, it is not, but I do not know how to describe it as anything other than a VM) so you can't even hook shit into them, such as BepInEx for Unity modding as an example, or else the program either crashes or doesn't run.

 

[gunfort]

Does anyone remembers anti-piracy on NDS? and how it end up?

 

[Dimensional]

Denuvo: Screwing over consumers while misleading developers.

 

[sombrerosonic]

Does anyone remembers anti-piracy on NDS? and how it end up?

yea, TWI menu was my savior

 

[DarkCoffe64]

Lmao, watch this parasitic implementation not only make the game run even worse on the shitch, perhaps even open up hacking/modding opportunities for the newer shitch's models, hah

Probably not. How else would it work offline?

It won't c:

Wouldn't be the first time an "offline" game needs to be online 'cus them corpos are so scared you're pirating the game, tsk.

 

[susbaconhairman]

haha fuckers, they will never get away with this as long as pirates and cunning h4xx0rs exist!

 

[sombrerosonic]

Lmao, watch this parasitic implementation not only make the game run even worse on the shitch, perhaps even open up hacking/modding opportunities for the newer shitch's models, hah


It won't c:

Wouldn't be the first time an "offline" game needs to be online 'cus them corpos are so scared you're pirating the game, tsk.

Persona 4 Golden PC be like

 

[Nincompoopdo]

That's just dumb, most 3rd party games can be played on PC. People will be pirating PC games, not play them on a graphically dumb-down Switch version through an emulator.

 

[City]

Maybe I wasn't clear. And a little rude, so I apologize for that.

Companies don't give a shit about you, the nerds that have time and willingness to avoid paying for stuff. They don't want piracy to become "too" mainstream. Someone mentioned DS piracy earlier, yeah, that actually was VERY close to become as bad as piracy on mobile phones. For the kids of the thread: it became so bad that some indipendent gaming stores and even the little illegal stands with bootleg games were selling flashcards. A worrysome and increasing number of parents weren't going to Toys 'R Us anymore to buy games, but paying someone a few bucks to put dozens of ROMs in a bootleg R4. So much so that Nintendo had to pretty much ask everywhere to make flashcards close to impossible to buy for the "regular" person and fine those who were selling them. It was never about you.

That, and the fact that, as I have mentioned in my drawing (unfortunately removed ), Nintendo, as a company, has to show that they're dealing with the problem somehow. You're free to dislike it and to pirate it as much as you want, but as data for mobile piracy already shows, people will ABSOLUTELY bootleg the fuck out of everything if it's easy enough.

Think of it as stores: they know there are sly shoplifters. They know they will get robbed that way. They put that in the "costs" section. But they still hire guards, use anti-theft chips and do whatever it takes to stop the average person to think it would be more convenient and less risky to do it. Hell, as soon as people figured out that you could swap things inside boxes without anyone noticing, they started sealing them or storing the most expensive ones behind the counter. A store near my house had to put that glue you use for your fake teeth behind the counter because some old farts kept swapping the tube inside and put it in a cheaper box.

 

[susbaconhairman]

LONG LIVE PIRATES!
haha ugli text but where is the comic sans font

 

[CMDreamer]

This looks more like phishing, but not for stealing users' data, but their money.