When people were crying out for more PS5 exclusives, I don’t think Denuvo was what they had in mind.
But hey, if you’ve always wanted to get in on some of the rage that has engulfed various PC games from time to time, now might be your chance. Denuvo’s traditional brand of DRM isn’t necessarily needed on consoles, since they’re a walled ecosystem to begin with. But the middleware company has developed its own anti-cheat solution, and as of Thursday morning Australian time that tech will be available to all PS5 developers who wish to use it.
“Denuvo, the leader in video games protection, offers its Anti-Cheat solution through this program to publishers and developers whose games are available on PlayStation 5,” Denuvo said in a release.
Interestingly, the release says Denuvo’s anti-cheat solution has already been implemented by a number of games for the PS5’s launch, which would likely include titles such as Demon’s Souls:
Denuvo’s Anti-Cheat incorporates advanced technology to secure both online gameplay as well as securely reward offline progress. The technology helps game developers protect sensitive game logic or data, preventing cheaters from changing sensitive variables and ensuring its trustworthiness. A number of games incorporated Denuvo’s Anti-Cheat at launch of PlayStation 5 to ensure best experience for the gamers.
The company stressed that “Denuvo’s technology has no negative impact on in-game performance”. That very well might be the case for PS5 games thus far, although I can already hear the cries of PC gamers who have been battling against Denuvo DRM for years.
There’s even a pretty extensive Steam Curator page listing all the major games that have removed Denuvo after launch, including Dishonored, Two-Point Hospital, Borderlands 3, Death Stranding, RAGE 2, Hitman and Hitman 2, RIME, the Yakuza PC ports, Devil May Cry 5, DOOM and, prominently last year, DOOM Eternal. DOOM Eternal is especially interesting, because the backlash against Denuvo’s anti-cheat was what caused id to patch it out:
Despite our best intentions, feedback from players has made it clear that we must re-evaluate our approach to anti-cheat integration. With that, we will be removing the anti-cheat technology from the game in our next PC update. As we examine any future of anti-cheat in DOOM Eternal, at a minimum we must consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed, as well as ensure the overall timing of any anti-cheat integration better aligns with player expectations around clear initiatives – like ranked or competitive play – where demand for anti-cheat is far greater.
The complaints there were specifically against the incorporation of anti-cheat into the single-player mode, so DOOM Eternal‘s situation isn’t exactly universal. Still, I can understand why some gamers would be less than thrilled by the news. But as access to cheats continues to grow even in the walled world of consoles, it might not be such a bad thing. But don’t expect it to stop at the PS5 — Denuvo’s anti-cheat solution was added to Valve’s Steamworks earlier this year, making it available to any developer who wants to publish their game on Steam.
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