Capcom has removed Denuvo anti-tamper DRM from Resident Evil Village in its most recent update. The PC version of Resident Evil Village has long been known to suffer performance issues compared to its console brethren, and it has been proven to be caused by Denuvo.
A report from the Dark Side of Gaming confirmed Denuvo's removal from RE Village both in the game as well as its Steam storefront. With the game's initial release back in May of 2021, that's almost two years of Denuvo protection. Thanks to the big Crytek leak a few years ago, we know that Denuvo charges its customers based on how long the software remains in-game, with the largest expense being incurred in the first six months. Some games remove Denuvo in the first few weeks, while others--such as Resident Evil 2, 3, Devil May Cry 5, and Monster Hunter World--will keep Denuvo for several years.
And that's despite Denuvo having long been accused of causing performance issues on PC. Just months after the game's release date, a cracked version of Resident Evil Village seemingly eliminated the game's performance issues, proving that it was Denuvo causing undue stuttering and dropped frames. Capcom's said at the time it was "looking into the reported PC performance issues," and yet Denuvo remained present for nearly two years despite strong evidence that it worsened the Village experience.
Denuvo has long been known to cause issues in PC games. A report from over four years ago suggested that Denuvo will always cause a reduction of overall framerate, and can sometimes cause even worse performance issues like the stuttering animations found in Resident Evil Village. This has led to widespread revulsion among PC gamers and calls for Denuvo to be stripped from every game.
And yet, Denuvo remains in many titles to this day. Most recently, Sega included Denuvo in the release of Sonic Origins, which didn't help the widespread complaints of poor performance on PC. Arkane Studios confirmed that the upcoming co-op vampire-hunting shooter Redfall would also have Denuvo alongside always-online requirements, angering PC gamers and leading some to even cancel their pre-orders.
Despite all the negative publicity from gamers, Denuvo still manages to keep expanding its market share by finding new platforms. Just last August, Nintendo announced it would bring Denuvo anti-tech to the Switch as a step towards preventing both piracy and the emulation of Switch games on PC. Nintendo has long been at war with the emulation community, which the Japanese publisher perceives as mere pirates. However, there are many who legally own both a Switch and its games who just prefer to emulate the experience on a PC for better performance.
It certainly doesn't seem like Denuvo is going anywhere anytime soon, but Steam players who were patiently waiting for RE Village to remove the anti-piracy tech, at least now you know it's safe to play.