Denuvo responds to its critics, saying Steam forums are a "very toxic, very hostile atmosphere"

Denuvo DRM may not be a crime, but it's hard to find PC gamers who like anti-piracy software. Why should they? If it works correctly, the only ones who will notice Denuvo DRM is the software pirates that are trying to crack it. Everyone else can hate it, either because they believe it hinders performance or simply because they dislike DRM.

Denuvo has been defending itself against gamers who have characterized it as the Lex Luthor PC gaming. They say that we shouldn't hate Denuvo, but rather appreciate it for what it does for developers.

Andreas Ullmann, Denuvo's product manager, told me at the Game Developer's Conference, in San Francisco, earlier this year, "It breaks my heart to see our solutions, particularly the anti-piracy, being adopted by the community." "Because i don't think the benefits of our solution are fully understood, because by preventing piracy you earn more money through your game which is then re-invested into making better games." I don't know for sure, but if our solution didn't exist, perhaps some great games would never be developed.

I was talking to Ullmann at the time about a new security feature Denuvo offers for pre-release builds of games. It was interesting, but not relevant to the average PC gamer. So I filed the comment in my mental file as something to look into further. This comment was a precursor to a new initiative by Denuvo, aimed at bringing PC gamers to its side. It started with a Discord Server last week, which didn't go very well, and an interview this week with Rock Paper Shotgun, where Ullmann elaborated on his quest to improve Denuvo’s reputation.

Ullmann says in the RPS interview that the Steam forums are a "very hostile, toxic environment" and that Denuvo does not want to allow the crowd to make unchecked claims about its software. The company has insisted that its DRM doesn't affect game performance except in rare cases, such as Tekken 7 where an error was to blame. (Our results are no longer relevant due to their age, but Durante tested Final Fantasy 15's performance with and without Denuvo in 2018 and found no difference.

Ullmann told RPS it is partly because Denuvo "just works" and pirates try to make it less attractive to game publishers by disparaging the software.

"Pirates can't play games that use our solution for a long time, usually until the publisher decides patch out our solution," said he. "There is a large community of people who cannot play their favorite videogames because they do not want to pay for them. They spend a great deal of time in online communities sharing their views and trying to blame Denuvo.

Ullmann believes that the other reason is that there is no clear reason why gamers would like Denuvo. All they know is it's an anti-piracy tool that big publishers use so they can make money. He argues, however, that with today's huge budgets, a 20% drop in launch revenue - which is what a study claims Denuvo protects - is a significant setback.

In the RPS interview with Ullmann, he also discusses why Denuvo doesn't debunk performance claims by its own testing. The short answer is that Denuvo would need permission from their clients, no one would ever believe it, and there have been some independent tests already (he pointed out our own Final Fantasy 15 testing as an example).

Ullmann told me in March that he wanted to change Denuvo's perception now. It was personal.

"I have been with the company so long," said Ullmann. "The guys here feel like my family because many of them have been here for years." It hurts to read what people have said about us, despite the fact that it's been proven wrong hundreds of times.

Publishers who use Denuvo today often use it during the crucial launch period and then remove it with a patch later. The upcoming Dragon Age Veilguard won't use Denuvo, which is a bit surprising. However, EA has said that it will not offer preloading.