In a compelling defense of their anti-piracy software, Denuvo's product manager Andreas Ullmann has responded to the ongoing backlash from the gaming community.
Denuvo’s Product Manager Defends Anti-Piracy Software Amidst Backlash
Denuvo Addresses Performance Concerns and Misinformation
In a recent interview, Denuvo's product manager Andreas Ullmann tackled the vehement criticism the anti-piracy company has received from gamers over the years. Ullmann labeled the gaming community's response as "very toxic" and pointed out that many of the criticisms, particularly those related to performance, are rooted in misinformation and confirmation bias.
Denuvo's anti-tamper DRM has been a staple for major publishers aiming to safeguard their new game releases from piracy, including recent titles like Final Fantasy 16. However, gamers frequently claim that the DRM hampers game performance, often citing anecdotal evidence or unverified benchmarks that show differences in framerate or stability when Denuvo is removed. Ullmann refuted these claims, stating that cracked versions of games still contain Denuvo's code.
"The cracks, they don’t remove our protection," Ullmann explained in his interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun. "There is even more code on top of the cracked code—that is executing on top of our code, and causing even more stuff to be executed. So there is technically no way that the cracked version is faster than the uncracked version."
When confronted about whether Denuvo can negatively affect game performance, he responded, "No, and I think that’s also something we’ve stated in our FAQ on Discord." He admitted there were "valid cases," such as with Tekken 7, where games using Denuvo DRM did experience noticeable performance issues.
Yet, the company’s Anti-Tamper Q&A presents a different narrative. According to the FAQ, "Anti-Tamper has no perceptible effect on game performance nor is Anti-Tamper to blame for any game crashes of genuine executables."
On Denuvo’s Negative Reputation and Discord Shutdown
As an avid gamer himself, Ullmann acknowledged that gamers' frustrations with DRM are understandable, as it's often "super hard to see, as a gamer, what is the immediate benefit." He highlighted the significant benefits to developers, citing studies that show games with effective DRM experience a "20%" revenue increase by deterring early piracy. Ullmann suggested that misinformation spread by the piracy community has fueled misunderstandings, urging players to acknowledge Denuvo’s positive impact on the industry and to refrain from vilifying DRM without concrete evidence.
"These big corporations are… looking for a way to minimize the risk for their investment," Ullmann said. "Again, this does not have an immediate benefit for me as a player. But if you look further, the more successful a game is, the longer it will get updates. The more additional content will come to that game, the more likely it is that there will be a next iteration of the game. That's basically the benefits that we offer to the average player."
Despite efforts to clarify these misunderstandings, Denuvo continues to face backlash from gamers. On October 15, 2024, Denuvo launched a public Discord server, aiming to facilitate open discussions with gamers. Describing it as "a way to open up our communication and, in a way, ourselves, to your voices," the initiative quickly backfired.
Within just two days, the server's main chat was overwhelmed by users flooding it with anti-DRM memes, performance complaints, and other criticisms. This barrage overwhelmed Denuvo's small moderation team, forcing them to suspend chat permissions and reconfigure the server to read-only mode. Their social media posts on Twitter (X) continue to receive similar feedback.
Nevertheless, Ullmann remains committed to engaging with the community. In his interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, he stated, "You have to start somewhere, right?" He outlined plans for future transparency efforts, saying, "So this is now the start for this initiative, and we want to be out there. It will take some time. It will start on Discord, and later on we hope we can move to other platforms: Reddit, Steam forums, to have official accounts and throw our comments into the discussions."
While the success of these upcoming transparency efforts in altering the community's perspective is uncertain, Denuvo's strategy to take charge of the narrative aims to foster a more constructive dialogue between gamers and developers. As Ullmann emphasized, "This is exactly what we are looking for. Having honest, nice conversations with people. Talking about what we all love, which is gaming."
