Denuvo games are getting cracked faster and faster, RAGE 2 is the game that was cracked on the first day of release

Denuvo is an uncommon DRM solution today but is still used by many major PC game publishers including Ubisoft, Sega, Square Enix, etc. Last year, Denuvo said cracking as well as downloading pirated games was impossible. avoid, and their main goal is to “preserve revenue” before the crack comes out. But with Bethesda’s Rage 2 cracked in less than 24 hours, that goal was soon broken.

But this time, the weakness from Denuvo’s security is not the cause. According to the CrackWatch subreddit, the Steam version of Rage 2 has Denuvo, but the .exe file on the Bethesda Launcher doesn’t have DRM. The fact that Bethesda was so open opened the way for crackers to take action. Being able to access the exe file easily makes it easy to beat Rage 2’s online check-in.

Crackers don’t need to cross the Denuvo wall to pirate Rage 2, and this is quite common with games that aren’t properly protected by copyright on the first day of the game’s release. But looking at other Denuvo games, this year’s DRM is also not very effective compared to the past, although we do not take into account this cracked Rage 2.

According to Crackwatch, there are a few games that are still not cracked, like Anno 1800 (released a month ago). Some other uncracked titles are Mortal Kombat 11 and The Division 2 – probably never will be cracked not because they can’t, but the online connection process makes cracking extremely difficult or meaningless. .

In addition to the above games, Crackwatch shows that Denuvo has not had a good year in 2019:

• Rage 2 crack: Day 1 (via .exe file not belonging to Denuvo)
• Metro Exodus crack: Day 4
• Devil May Cry 5 crack: Day 1 (via non-Denuvo .exe file)
• Resident Evil 2 crack: Day 6
• Far Cry New Dawn Cracd: Day 6
• Ace Combat 7 crack: Day 13

Looking back at 2018, the time to crack games is often longer. Hitman 2 and Just Cause 4 were both cracked in one day, but Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey took 36 days, FIFA 19 took 63 days, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider took 64 days. In 2018, Denuvo was usually cracked for weeks or months, with a few major exceptions like Final Fantasy 15 being cracked on day one.

In 2019, many Denuvo games were pirated within the first week of launch. Release date is the most important moment for revenue, but the next 6 days are still very important, requiring DRM to be extremely effective.

We only have about a dozen games released with Denuvo this year, but they have also been cracked very quickly. If Denuvo’s primary value was anti-piracy at launch, it might be time for publishers to consider whether a week’s protection is worth it, given that Denuvo is becoming less and less popular in PC games. .