Denuvo facts for kids
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| Developer(s) | Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH |
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| Initial release | 2014 |
| Platform | Windows |
| Type | Digital rights management |
| License | Proprietary |
Denuvo Anti-Tamper is a special computer program. It helps stop people from illegally copying or changing video games. It's like a lock that protects games from being "cracked" or copied without permission. This system was made by an Austrian company called Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH.
The company started making this software in 2014. The first game to use Denuvo was FIFA 15 in September 2014. Besides Anti-Tamper, Denuvo also makes other tools. These include Denuvo Anti-Cheat, which stops cheating in online games. They also made Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection. This tool tries to stop Nintendo Switch games from being played on computers using special programs called emulators. In 2018, a company called Irdeto bought Denuvo Software Solutions.
Contents
How Denuvo Started
Denuvo was created by Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH. This software company is located in Salzburg, Austria. The people who started Denuvo used to work for a part of Sony that made an older protection system called SecuROM.
In January 2018, Irdeto, another software company, bought Denuvo. Denuvo had about 45 employees at that time. The Denuvo software itself began to be developed in 2014. The game FIFA 15, which came out in September 2014, was the very first game to use Denuvo's protection.
Protecting Games
When Denuvo first came out, it made it much harder for people to copy games illegally. Before Denuvo, games were often copied very quickly after they were released. Denuvo changed this. For example, a group called 3DM tried to copy Dragon Age: Inquisition. It took them about a month, which was a very long time back then.
Denuvo's creators knew that eventually, any protected game might be copied. However, Denuvo helped game companies a lot. Most game sales happen in the first month after a game comes out. If Denuvo could protect a game during this important time, it was seen as a success. One group even stopped trying to copy games for a year to see if it would help game sales. Denuvo's team said that because of their technology, some games that were only on game consoles could now also be released for computers.
Over time, people who copy games illegally found ways to get around Denuvo faster. By 2017, some games were copied just hours after they were released. Examples include South Park: The Fractured but Whole and FIFA 18. Even so, Denuvo still made it harder than before. Some games, like Assassin's Creed Origins, had Denuvo combined with other protection systems. This made them harder to copy, taking several months.
By 2019, many games were still being copied within a week of their release. This included games like Devil May Cry 5 and Resident Evil 2. In one interesting case, the game Rage 2 was released with Denuvo on one platform (Steam) but not on another. The version without Denuvo was copied right away. Because of this, Denuvo was removed from the Steam version just two days later.
Other Denuvo Products
Denuvo also developed other tools to help game developers.
Denuvo Anti-Cheat
In 2019, Denuvo announced a sister product called Denuvo Anti-Cheat. This system helps stop players from cheating in online games. It was first used in the game Doom Eternal in May 2020. However, some players didn't like it, and it was removed from the game within a week.
Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection
In 2022, Irdeto announced Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection. This is a system for Nintendo Switch games. Its goal is to stop these games from being played on computers using emulator programs like Yuzu. When this was announced, many Nintendo Switch owners were worried. They thought it might make their games run slower. Denuvo said that the system would not affect how games perform on real Nintendo Switch consoles. This system was released in August 2023.
How the Technology Works
Games that use Denuvo usually need to connect to the internet once to activate. A person who copies Denuvo-protected games, known as Empress, explained how it works. She said that the software gives each copy of a game a special code. This code is unique to the user's computer hardware. Denuvo's protection is built right into the game's main code. This makes it very difficult for people to get around it.
See also
In Spanish: Denuvo para niños
