Crimson Desert adds confirmation of Denuvo DRM to its Steam page a week out from launch

Crimson Desert has long had its optimistic fans – those that play its MMO predecessor, Black Desert Online, for example. But in recent months, it feels like everyone’s squeezed aboard the Crimson Desert hype train – its scale, visuals, deep combat offering, and decision to make it a huge, MMORPG-lite single-player game has seen interest snowball. While I’ve still got my reservations about the overcomplicated control scheme Jamie encountered when he previewed it last year, it seems pretty nailed on to be one of this year’s biggest new releases. However, just a week out from launch, some PC players may be disappointed to learn that, on Steam, Crimson Desert will require Denuvo DRM.

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Denuvo is probably the most popular anti-tamper measure out there, and I’m sure developer-publisher Pearl Abyss will be keen to avoid revenue loss to piracy. A study from William Volckmann, published in Entertainment Computing 52 last year, suggests that games can take up to a 20% revenue hit if cracked in the first week, which is no small figure should Crimson Desert’s sales rocket in the way I’m anticipating them to; all of my casual gaming friends are talking about it, which is typically a very strong sign that it’s going to be a biggun.

Denuvo’s poor reputation within the PC gaming community isn’t entirely unfounded. A/B testing on various games that eventually became DRM-free has shown that, in some cases, there’s a noticeable performance uplift once Denuvo had been removed. Correlation isn’t causation, but you can’t ignore the trends. There are also those who subscribe to the same school of thought as GOG CEO Michał Kiciński – that DRM isn’t a solution for piracy and only makes player’s lives more difficult. As a veritable unc, I do miss the days where I could sit and play my favorite games, internet-free, without having to go online just so a DRM can report that I’m not up to any shenanigans.

Nonetheless, the move is sure to ruffle some feathers. Already on Reddit, players are staving off buying-in, while some claim to outright be refunding their pre-orders. Others, meanwhile, are more than happy to see how the game performs on day one before making up their minds. It’s worth remembering that socials are typically enthusiast-skewed, so I don’t see Denuvo’s inclusion being a deal-breaker for most.

My only issue is that Crimson Desert won’t have PC mod support at launch, but even that omission hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for it. The Crimson Desert system requirements are surprisingly modest, so I’m hopeful that, regardless of the extra DRM layer, it’ll run like a dream when the time comes to delve into Pywel for the first time.