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Topfi | on: Steam games will need to disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
Does anyone know whether disclosure of Denuvo and similarly controversial "add-ons" does negatively affect sales? Maybe I am cynical, but I have come to the conclusion that whether it is always online DRM, rootkit-level anti-cheat or the need to have an account for offline play, community anger is often only maintained when a game had other things going against it from the get-go. Not against disclosing this of course, that is a great move for those who actually are willing to walk-the-walk, just asking whether we should perhaps temper our expectations on the impact of such a measure.
dmonitor | parent
The most recent study I saw showed that Denuvo significantly helps revenue capture within the first few months of a game's release

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S18759...

grayhatter | root | parent | next
I can't figure out what that article is trying to prove. "When DRM remains uncracked, we can't detect any losses due to piracy." well duh. Does it otherwise effect sales? Do any small games use it, or just large studios?
righthand | root | parent | next
FYI - Denuvo paid for that study.
bitwize | root | parent
[flagged]
lomase | root | parent | next
As Gabe Newell said "piracy is a service problem"

I could pirate every game I have on my Steam account. I don't do it because the added value that Steam gives me.

bhelkey | root | parent | next
> I could pirate every game I have on my Steam account.

According to the CrackWatch subreddit, there were 29 games released with Denuvo in 2024. Of those, only one has been cracked and it was done via a demo bypass [1].

You can pirate many games but not, for example, Final Fantasy XVI.

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/p9ak4n/crack_wa...

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Thaxll | root | parent | next
Gabe newell has 0 value in that discussion, Steam is defacto the monopoly on PC, when you make billions by not doing anything and taking 30% on every game it's less of an issue.

The other funny thing is that Half Life 2 came out with full blown DRM that only decrypted when the game released.

m463 | root | parent
A better example would be GOG.
coretx | root | parent | next
DRM is not going away because the extra power it provides can be monetized.- Shareholders and investors want money at all cost. Ask anyone in any creative field. Very few are rights holders. They have food on their table despite DRM and their rights being coerced from them.
ls612 | root | parent
I think a lot of the anti DRM crowd (who aren't just into it for piracy) believe;

1. DRM works (or more precisely, it has gotten somewhat better at working over time).

2. It will proliferate to everything that can possibly have electricity in it.

3. In the long run this will lead to an authoritarian dystopia which will make modern China look nice by comparison.

By 2124, you will own nothing and you will be happy, or the Neuralink Assistant chip you were given as a kid will restructure your brain to "correct" this deficiency of happiness with your situation.

This is only half satire, I do truly fear this is the direction that improved information technology will move the political economy equilibrium.