Denuvo DRM included in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has already been cracked, according to a new report.
In recent years, Denuvo has been the gold standard in “anti-tamper” technology, also known as DRM. The whole idea is to make it impossible for someone to digitally mess with a product, or at the very least make it extremely difficult. If it can’t be tampered with, then it can’t be cracked, and if it can’t be cracked, then it can’t be packaged up in a DRM-free version that allows it to be pirated.
That’s the idea anyway. But in recent years, Denuvo hasn’t been slowing down hackers all that much. Just take Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. According to DSOGaming, a hacker group was able to crack Denuvo and bypass its security controls just three days after the game’s release on November 15th.
You’re just going to have to take their word for it, since neither DSO nor TheGamer will link to a pirated copy of the game file (for the obvious reason of nobody wanting to get sued.) And as DSO points out, you really should support this game financially anyhow. It’s a single-player, story-driven game that’s free of microtransactions and is actually pretty good. AND it was released on Steam. That’s a rare thing to find in today’s PC gaming market.
But it is a bad sign for Denuvo. Way back in 2014 when the DRM software first came out, it would take hackers weeks to find ways around it. Then in 2017, the time it took for a new PC game to get cracked was “within hours” of release. In 2018, games like Hitman 2 and Final Fantasy XV were getting cracked even before the official release date thanks to early review copies getting into the hands of hackers.
The fact that it took hackers 3 days in 2019 is actually a slight improvement, but it’s a far cry from when Denuvo first arrived on the PC gaming scene back in 2014. And while you can argue making impatient gamers wait a few weeks is definitely going to improve sales, making them wait a few days probably isn’t helping developers all that much.
(Source: DSOGaming, Arstechnica, Eurogamer)