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[KyoZz]

The “CPY” games release group has published four new titles, all of which were protected by Denuvo. Empress, another group, has also released a working crack for Mortal Kombat 11, Tekken 7 and Total War Troy.
Many game publishers rely on Denuvo, and it was previously so good it stagnated the game pirate scene. Some publishers remove Denuvo after a certain amount of time (most likely when the license expire) like with Resident Evil 3 recently.
There has been a massive decline in the number of new pirate releases since last week due to a raid by US law enforcement on the pirate release group known as SPARKS. The US Department of Justice confirmed in a press release that it worked with law enforcement authorities in over 18 countries to take down dozens of SPARKS group servers in various locations, including North America, Europe, and Asia.

Evolution of released cracked content on Torrent Freak. Source

All in all, Denuvo has been keeping the game-cracking scene in check while protecting game creators and publishers and securing their profits., but this could mean that the hackers have found a way to break the protection system.
Some cracked games appeared along the way, but Denuvo either patched the system or the hackers got arrested soon after their release. In other cases, the cracks came many months after the game’s initial launch, so the sales weren’t affected significantly.

For now, no definitive answers can be given about whether Denuvo has been cracked or not. If CPY or anyone else comes out with more releases in the following period, then we can certainly see a problem for the Austrian DRM system.
Anyway you should always support the creators and buy games from their legal channels of distribution. If the titles are too expensive for your wallet, play something else or simply wait for a sale !

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Four Back-to-Back Pirate Game Releases Signify Denuvo Protection Troubles

The “CPY” games release group has published four new titles, all of which were protected by Denuvo, so the DRM system may have been cracked.

www.technadu.com

 

[lukilladog]

...while protecting game creators and publishers and securing their profits.

 

[Lionel Richie]

 

[Darkmakaimura]

 

[sertopico]

I don't know what's going on, but yesterday I was playing Mafia DE and I couldn't accelerate anymore on certain cars, they kept going extremely slow, as the upper gears didn't work anymore. This has never happened before. Needless to say I have the original game bought on Steam. Is that some kind of anti piracy protection (i.e. a false positive) or is the game bugging out with no apparent reason? I finished the whole campaign with no problem of any sort....

 

[Digity]

No Red Dead 2 still.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Denuvo only has to work for the first week or so of release to justify the investment by the publisher.

 

[lukilladog]

Denuvo only has to work for the first week or so of release to justify the investment by the publisher.

At least in their minds, there is a study commissioned by the European Union which shows that piracy helps sales a bit on PC.

Ps.- Here it is: https://juliareda.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/displacement_study.pdf

"For games, the estimated effect of illegal online transactions on sales is positive – implying that illegal consumption leads to increased legal consumption. This positive effect of illegal downloads and streams on the sales of games may be explained by the industry being successful in converting illegal users to paying users. Tactics used by the industry include, for example, offering gameplay with extra bonuses or extra levels if consumers pay. "

 

[ZZZZ]

No Red Dead 2 still.

Red Dead 2 is not denuvo, they use their own system. It's an always online DRM.
I don't expect it to be cracked anytime soon.

 

[Woo-Fu]

At least in their minds, there is a study commissioned by the European Union which shows that piracy helps sales a bit on PC.

Ps.- Here it is: https://juliareda.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/displacement_study.pdf

"For games, the estimated effect of illegal online transactions on sales is positive – implying that illegal consumption leads to increased legal consumption. This positive effect of illegal downloads and streams on the sales of games may be explained by the industry being successful in converting illegal users to paying users. Tactics used by the industry include, for example, offering gameplay with extra bonuses or extra levels if consumers pay. "

Sure, but there's no way to measure the positives vs. the negatives without a time machine or a set of alternate universes to run exactly the same release with/without DRM. That uncertainty means DRM isn't going anywhere, at least when it comes to publicly-held companies that have to answer to a board and shareholders.

A strong DRM during the launch window that eventually gets cracked or is removed after that window---as is the case with some Denuvo titles---would presumably give the benefits of DRM during the launch while letting piracy filter in later on and provide some word of mouth promotion.

 

[BaneIsPain]

Disgusting pirates. Arrrr

 

[Senua]

Oh damn! I wonder if they'll finally crack RDR2

 

[Yoboman]

Could be damaging to the prospects of future Sony PC titles

 

[Malakhov]

No Red Dead 2 still.

Oh damn! I wonder if they'll finally crack RDR2

It will never be cracked, you need a rockstar launcher to start the game. Only way to play it illegally is to purchase a shared steam account

 

[Digity]

It will never be cracked, you need a rockstar launcher to start the game. Only way to play it illegally is to purchase a shared steam account

Still wouldn’t be worth playing even if they did crack it.

 

[ZZZZ]

Could be damaging to the prospects of future Sony PC titles

No.

 

[Malakhov]

Still wouldn’t be worth playing even if they did crack it.

Nah, worth playing over and over again. Best game of this gen, thanks.

 

[Senua]

Could be damaging to the prospects of future Sony PC titles

HZD was cracked day one IIRC, was a shite port and still sold almost a million copies the first month. They'll be plenty more Sony games coming to PC

 

[Knitted Knight]

If you want to bulletproof your games on PC, make them online only. Otherwise they're getting cracked, sooner or later.

 

[Senua]

If you want to bulletproof your games on PC, make them online only. Otherwise they're getting cracked, sooner or later.

Yea, fuck over the consumer, woo!

 

[lukilladog]

Sure, but there's no way to measure the positives vs. the negatives without a time machine or a set of alternate universes to run exactly the same release with/without DRM. That uncertainty means DRM isn't going anywhere, at least when it comes to publicly-held companies that have to answer to a board and shareholders.

A strong DRM during the launch window that eventually gets cracked or is removed after that window---as is the case with some Denuvo titles---would presumably give the benefits of DRM during the launch while letting piracy filter in later on and provide some word of mouth promotion.

But there is a way to estimate it using analysis on the subjects, you only need to find the patterns in their behavior. The study explains how they did it, it´s similar to how companies make projections on sales.

 

[JimboJones]

No Red Dead 2 still.

I wish, I'd take denuvo over shitty rockstar account anyday

 

[Rikkori]

I wish, I'd take denuvo over shitty rockstar account anyday

Indeed. Even worse - I have it on epic so that's 2 shitty launchers to deal with.

 

[Black_Stride]

If you want to bulletproof your games on PC, make them online only. Otherwise they're getting cracked, sooner or later.

Read Dead Redemption 2 and Handball still sitting pretty uncracked.

 

[fermcr]

On PC, Red Dead Redemption 2 is like Diablo 3... almost uncrackable. Portion of the single player of those games are on online servers. The only way those games can be cracked are if someone hacked Rockstar/Blizzard servers are stole the code.

If someone is waiting for Red Dead Redemption 2 to be cracked, they are going to wait a long time...

 

[J3nga]

People that pirate video games don't intend to purchase them in the first place(in most cases), it is inaccurate to assume that x amount of downloaded copies equals y of a lost profit.

 

[Senua]

People that pirate video games don't intend to purchase them in the first place(in most cases), it is inaccurate to assume that x amount of downloaded copies equals y of a lost profit.

This is said in every single piracy thread, but is never heard

 

[The_Mike]

Imagine having to crack software you legally bought to make it run better without the drm.

 

[MightySquirrel]

Wonder if theres any comparisons of max cpu limit without and with denuvo? Remember first denuvo implementations were very heavy on cpu.

 

[Techies]

Gujian 3 sold 1.3 million copies by July 2020. There has been zero piracy for that game. Storing and loading savegames from a server proving to be highly effective.

 

[Evilms]

It will never be cracked, you need a rockstar launcher to start the game. Only way to play it illegally is to purchase a shared steam account

Never say never, MK11 seemed to be unbreakable too and yet its protection failed.

 

[GymWolf]

Denuvo has more holes than swiss cheese.

 

[CyberChulo]

Time to download.

 

[Knitted Knight]

Read Dead Redemption 2 and Handball still sitting pretty uncracked.

Are you suggesting it won't get cracked?

 

[HE1NZ]

There's a theory on Reddit and 4chan that Denuvo is not really a DRM, but merely an extortion scheme. Some scene groups get paid to not crack new games. When some smaller release groups still crack games, their info is leaked to FBI and they're getting raided.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Imagine having to crack software you legally bought to make it run better without the drm.

Imagine the publisher doing that for you.

Cracked Doom Eternal Executable is Bethesda’s DRM-Free Mistake | CCN.com

www.ccn.com

 

[Black_Stride]

Are you suggesting it won't get cracked?

When R* custom Arxan is no longer mandated for the game or a ton of games use it itll be cracked day and date.
Till then its proving to be an absolute bitch to get through and probably not worth the headache of getting through.
RDR2 still has a high bounty but no one is even claiming to be working on it.

 

[WakeTheWolf]

Playing Death Stranding on PC right now and it's worth every penny. It just sucks that Denuvo fucks with performance

 

[zeomax]

HZD was cracked day one IIRC, was a shite port and still sold almost a million copies the first month.

HZD has no DRM, not even a simply copy protection. It's like Witcher 3 complete "clean"

 

[Malakhov]

Never say never, MK11 seemed to be unbreakable too and yet its protection failed.

Well when rockstar drops support or stop using that launcher then yeah, I suppose heh

 

[Woo-Fu]

But there is a way to estimate it using analysis on the subjects, you only need to find the patterns in their behavior. The study explains how they did it, it´s similar to how companies make projections on sales.

And again, you're missing the other half of the data. You can have all the projections in the world and then you can see if the results matched your projections but you can't see what would have happened if you took a different path.

If the projections were an accurate picture for every choice, for every game in every market then there wouldn't be any question about whether or not DRM was "worth it". They'd already know and every company would drop it, or every company that could afford it would use it. That doesn't seem to be happening.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Imagine having to crack software you legally bought to make it run better without the drm.

A buddy of mine has actually done this on several occasions because his rig was close to minimum specs and he wanted to gain a few extra fps.

 

[Lanrutcon]

If a game is popular enough, it'll get cracked, unless it's always online.

 

[zeomax]

If a game is popular enough, it'll get cracked, unless it's always online.

Even always online games if they are popular enough. See World of Warcraft and the private servers.

 

[synce]

Despite this, companies still don't remove the protection even years after cracking. It's why I don't buy anything with Denuvo. It amazes me they think it improves sales, as if pirates don't have access to thousands of other games they could play until a crack is produced.

 

[IntentionalPun]

All they need to do is stop piracy at the release of a game and the publishers are happy.

The game's release is where the majority of sales happen, and where the majority of piracy happens if it's 0 day cracked.

People just don't understand this... why else do you think Denuvo keeps getting paid despite most games eventually getting cracked?

 

[RedVIper]

Could be damaging to the prospects of future Sony PC titles

Lol what they released horizon without DRM.

 

[The Fartist]

Time to download.

 

[Clear]

Kinda amazes me people still use warez these days when Trojans and other malware can do so much damage.

 

[frostyxc]

I don't know what's going on, but yesterday I was playing Mafia DE and I couldn't accelerate anymore on certain cars, they kept going extremely slow, as the upper gears didn't work anymore. This has never happened before. Needless to say I have the original game bought on Steam. Is that some kind of anti piracy protection (i.e. a false positive) or is the game bugging out with no apparent reason? I finished the whole campaign with no problem of any sort....

You've unlocked a hidden feature that replicates the driving in the original Mafia release. They should have titled the first game "Italian Driving Simulator" because, good God, you had to do a lot of slow driving for the majority of that game.