Denuvo anti-tamper technology is one of the most infamous contemporary DRM solutions on the market, and the company behind it, Irdeto, has just released a new ebook discussing its importance in the gaming industry. Denuvo has been related to a whole slew of controversies surrounding its implementation and its effects on game performance, but its prevalence cannot be denied.
Following its proliferation on PC over the past couple of years, Denuvo has now set its sights on the Nintendo Switch and the fact that it's possible to emulate the console's entire library of games. This is somewhat unprecedented due to the fact that, historically, emulation hasn't been an option for still-relevant and current devices, and it's not a big surprise to see the Denuvo team focusing on this particular practice.
The ebook from Irdeto, titled The Threats of Game Emulation to Developers: Are you worried enough?, makes a striking number of claims in its 10 pages' worth of content. While there are some broad strokes included, it mainly focuses on Nintendo Switch, explaining how modern emulation is a lucrative industry that inevitably leads to piracy and fewer game sales for the developer. Though the relationship between Denuvo and game piracy is rather complex, the featured white paper claims that emulation "poses an economic threat" to game developers, ruins their brand reputation, and violates their IP rights. Denuvo anti-tamper technology is the only real solution to the problem, claims the ebook.
Notably, Denuvo still maintains the same stance it voiced when issuing its official response to 2017's Resident Evil 7 crack, as the DRM's goal isn't necessarily to outright prevent piracy but to stall it instead. The ebook cites the British economist and entrepreneur Rufus Pollock, who claimed that the ideal scenario would be for copyrighted material to be untouchable for at least 14 years. The developers themselves should decide when their game should be open to emulation, says the ebook.
The discussions surrounding game emulation came to a head when Valve's Steam Deck came out. Specifically, Nintendo blocked Steam Deck emulation videos after it became clear that the device could run many Switch exclusives just fine, and Denuvo's new ebook seems like a tailored response that may be targeting game developers that have already been alarmed by this practice.
Developers spend a lot of money on Denuvo just to keep their games from getting cracked and pirated on day one. This practice has, broadly speaking, been reasonably effective, as it can take weeks or even months for Denuvo-protected games to get cracked. It is likely that Switch developers will soon pick up on this, too, but the fact that the responses to Denuvo's official ebook announcement on Twitter have been hugely negative speaks to the company's level of popularity among gamers.