Irdeto, the company behind Denuvo Tamper ResistantAnti-piracy DRM, very popular with publishers, has an image problem among gamers. DRM is notorious almost everywhere, and its inclusion in highly anticipated games often draws the ire of many who are interested in them.
There is a long and complicated history of people believing that Denuvo DRM will make games run worse. After many tests before and after, it is proved that there may indeed be a performance impact, but the specific situation of each situation is different. Sometimes the publisher’s own DRM (used with Denuvo) is the culprit, as we saw with Resident Evil: Village.
But Irdeto was tired of that, and the company wanted independent reviewers to prove that its DRM didn’t hurt game performance. In an interview with Ars Technica, Irdeto Video Games CEO Steve Huin said that a test that gamers often bring up doesn’t always compare versions of the same game with and without Denuvo.
“game player [almost] never have access to the same version of the [a game] Protected and unprotected,” he explained. “There may be protected and unprotected versions throughout the life of a game, but those aren’t comparable because those are different builds over a period of six months. , many bug fixes, etc., which can make it better or worse. “
Huin added that Irdeto conducts before-and-after tests internally to verify whether performance is affected, but he is well aware that the public will not believe any of these reports if it decides to share them. Instead, he thinks a better solution is to allow third parties to test themselves and publish the results.
The CEO revealed that Irdeto is currently working on a plan to provide copies of the game with and without Denuvo to trusted outlets and outlets for testing, hoping that their independent report will show that “performance is comparable to sex, sameness … that will provide something that hopefully will be trusted by the community.”
That should come within the next few months, Huin said.
Aside from discussions about game performance, DRM is considered anti-consumer by most gamers. Issues with Denuvo’s authentication servers have rendered several games unplayable in 2021. Games with DRM also tend to be harder to preserve for future generations, as is the case with several Windows Live games whose publishers never invested in switching DRM to other games that would make them playable today.
