Denuvo's DRM Now Being Cracked Within Hours of Release (arstechnica.com)

Denuvo, an anti-tamper technology and digital rights management scheme, isn't doing a very good job preventing PC games from being copied. According to Ars Technica, Denuvo releases are being publicly cracked within a day of their launch. From the report: This week's release of South Park: The Fractured but Whole is the latest to see its protections broken less than 24 hours after its release, but it's not alone. Middle Earth: Shadow of War was broken within a day last week, and last month saw cracks for Total War: Warhammer 2 and FIFA 18 the very same day as their public release. Then there's The Evil Within 2, which reportedly used Denuvo in prerelease review copies but then launched without that protection last week, effectively ceding the game to immediate potential piracy. Those nearly instant Denuvo cracks follow summer releases like Sonic Mania, Tekken 7, and Prey, all of which saw DRM protection cracked within four to nine days of release. But even that small difference in the "uncracked" protection window can be important for game publishers, who usually see a large proportion of their legitimate sales in those first few days of availability. The presence of an easy-to-find cracked version in that launch window (or lack thereof) could have a significant effect on the initial sales momentum for a big release. If Denuvo can no longer provide even a single full day of protection from cracks, though, that protection is going to look a lot less valuable to publishers.

Comments

The Gambler's Delusion

[Anonymous Coward]

DRM is like the delusional gambler. No matter how much money he loses he refuses to quit, because quitting would be and admission that he has failed and lost all his money. And, he is convinced that if hes sticks with it long enough he will eventually hit that big jackpot.

And I don't expect the companies using DRM to change their minds any time soon.

Denuvo isn't going to just quit and go away. Next year, Denuvo will will promise the game companies them that they have developed a new and improved DRM. It will be a lie. It will be nothing more than digital snake oil, just like all DRM, and the game companies will buy it, because they are just like the delusional gambler.

Re:The Gambler's Delusion

[Z80a]

Which is quite sad, as it goes against the very thing that is working for em, that is the online distribution.
Before steam/gog/etc.. acquiring a pirate game was a lot easier than getting the legal copy, as it didn't depended on convoluted mail schemes or having to hope the physical store have the game you actually want etc.. which made the pirate games "better" than the legal copies.
But with online distribution, now it is actually easier to get the legal games than it is to pirate it, which makes the legal copy better than the pirate, unless the game have some horrible DRM that decrease the performance or make modding impossible or add a "expiry date" to your game, which pushes the pirate cracked version without those issues back to the top.

Re:The Gambler's Delusion

[lucm]

DRM is like the delusional gambler. No matter how much money he loses he refuses to quit, because quitting would be and admission that he has failed and lost all his money.

DRM doesn't work as a bullet-proof system to prevent motivated people to use commercial content for free, but it does work in making it difficult enough that mainstream users will pay for it.

For instance, as a casual gamer I'm not going to fuck around downloading cracks (that are probably lost in an ocean of fakes infected with malware), I find it easier to pay for the game on Steam. In fact almost all games I play come from sales on Steam or PS4. Meanwhile, I have many gamer friends so if there was no DRM whatsoever I'd probably do like I used to in the 90s, use shared copies.

It's the same with any kind of software. I don't recall ever paying for MS-DOS 6 or Windows 3.1, but today if I needed Windows I'd probably buy a copy at Best Buy rather than deal with the endless patching and cracking.

Doesn't mean I endorse DRM, but it works.

Re:The Gambler's Delusion

[turbidostato]

"That's not the gambler's fallacy, it's the sunk cost fallacy."

Both.

"We are not going to stop now after that much investment" -that's the sunk cost fallacy part.

"Because we "know" we are going to win the jackpot -aka the magic unbreakable DRM if only we push long enough" -thinking that a losing strategy somehow will make us win just because wishful thinking, that's the gambler's fallacy part.

Re:The Gambler's Delusion

[Ambassador Kosh]

Even if the games had no DRM other than Steam you would still end up buying from from Steam instead of going to crack sites and hoping you don't get infected with something. The costs are low enough on steam that the risks of trying to get the games illegally is just not worth it for many people.

How many of the games that you have bought on steam have you ever checked if they have DRM? About the only thing I started checking is that they don't have Denuvo because I have had problems with some games that use Denuvo causing stuttering problems.

If DRM went away I probably would not even notice at this point.

Re:The Gambler's Delusion

[Opportunist]

A casual gamer will go to steam, click "buy it", click "finish and install" and play it. Not because it's honest, not because it's the right thing, not because he doesn't know about the crack but simply because it's easier and he doesn't give a shit about the 5 bucks the game costs.

Honestly, the only time I actually notice a game has DRM is when the damn crap keeps me from playing because the "you have to be online all the time" servers are unreachable again. Which is coincidentally also the only time when I have to fire up IDA anymore...

Re:The Gambler's Delusion

[Anonymous Coward]

some horrible DRM that decrease the performance or make modding impossible or add a "expiry date" to your game

You forgot: Infects your PC with some root-kit like software that conflicts with other software you use, such as virtualization software, mounting CD images or even (in one case) drivers for CD burners.

Re: The Gambler's Delusion

[mfnickster]

You forgot about the need to keep physical disks in an optical reader to play the game.

Yeah, that can be inconvenient.

What I'd really like is a robot arm that automatically opens the Xbox drawer, takes the disc out, puts it back in its case on the shelf, and fetches another one and loads it in the drawer.

Yep. That'd be a game-changer.

I don't buy anything with DRM

[Phylter]

Maybe DRM is important to ensuring people buy their products but I won't bother buying anything with DRM. I've got software purchased that I can no longer use, not because the software is not compatible with my computer, it's the DRM that is no longer compatible. I don't pirate games or software. I'll do without if DRM is involved. It's a huge pain in the neck.

Re:ever damn thang is cracked

[Mashiki]

Well that's not really true. Denovo really held out for a while there like starforce did, think it was right up around a year when it was first released(same with starforce) before the first cracks started showing up. With denuvo v4 there were multiple vulnerabilities because they used someone elses vmware kit, v5 is apparently in-house and several of the latest titles use it. Those games were cracked in under 10 hours no less, they had a good run but CDProjekt showed how wrong the whole DRM scheme is. If you make a good game people will buy it, if you make shit people won't. Ask CliffyB just how well his latest shit game is working out if you need an example though.

Re:Denuvo paid off 3DM

[sexconker]

The reason Denuvo shilled comments from the very poor asian cracking group 3DM was because they paid off the group to release the comments to suggest Denuvo would be worth using in the future. In reality 3DM had one half-hearted kid cracker who had made some progress with early versions of Denuvo, but had already moved on due to real life issues.

For 3DM, taking Denuvo's money was a no-brainer- they were never going to release decent cracks anyway.

They paid 3DM off after their first 2 cracks (I believe 1 was really a workaround/bypass). 3DM then announced they were stopping for a year.
Other groups started cracking Denuvo's shit faster and faster (as mentioned elsewhere, due to 64-bit debugging improving).
Denuvo is dead.

The "uncracked window" myth

[Opportunist]

That shit again? Please.

What does someone do who is a die-hard fan that wants the game more than anything? Preorder. Without even knowing what DRM the game will have or if at all. Because he doesn't give a shit. I wanna, shut up and take my money!

Anyone who gets convinced by reviews and information from peers will get that information a few days after release. When the crack is already available. So if this person so pleases, he can get the cracked version instead.

So tell me again, who does that DRM keep from getting the cracked version? Yes, it's true that most sales happen in the first few days. But not because of DRM but because of fanboys who preordered.

Good game sell

[DrYak]

Those games were cracked in under 10 hours no less, they had a good run but CDProjekt showed how wrong the whole DRM scheme is. If you make a good game people will buy it, if you make shit people won't.

Yup I totally agree.
If you've made a good game and there are tons of fan liking it, they'll line up to buy it EVEN if it is DRM-free.

A cracked game, if the game is good won't necessarily cause a big drop of sales.
(Some people might decide not to pay for it, but it's going to be a small fraction of the fans. On the other hand another fraction of the fans might finally decide to buy it, now that there's a way to take their legit copies and "disinfect it" from the DRM : that might end up being my case regarding Sonic Mania and Denuvo)

If your game is shitty, it's a stupid excuse to blame it on piracy.

Who said this:

[null etc.]

But even that small difference in the "uncracked" protection window can be important for game publishers, who usually see a large proportion of their legitimate sales in those first few days of availability.

"Oh, I was going to find a cracked version of this game on launch day, but because I can't find one, I'll pay the full retail price of $40 to $60 right now, instead of waiting a few more days for the cracked version", said no pirate ever.

Re:ever damn thang is cracked

[Anonymous Coward]

"but CDProjekt showed how wrong the whole DRM scheme is."

You mean the people who champion DRM-free policies, but attach DRM to their own Witcher games for the initial launch? Sure they removed it eventually (And were even up front about their intention to remove it once initial launch sales were over), but they're not exactly puritans of faith so to speak.

Re:Doesn't matter how many play your game

[Cederic]

Why wouldn't the pirated version include those benefits?

DRM tends to make the pirated versions better to play than the legitimate ones. I used to download 'no CD' cracks for games I'd bought as it made it easier for me to play them.