Payday 3 gives up on Denuvo right before launch

Main presentation image for Payday 3.
Source: steampowered.com

With a slated release for September 21, it’s interesting to see such a big decision being made by developers.

While the developers over at Starbreeze Studios kept quiet about the usage of Denuvo in their latest title, recently it was uncovered by fans on Reddit that Payday 3 was indeed using Denuvo as a DRM. But with just three days left until launch, developers have stated in an X post that they have given up on using Denuvo.

If you’re unaware of the storied past that Denuvo has, let me enlighten you a little. DRM software has been a thing ever since games actually started bringing in good amounts of money. And with success comes the threat of piracy, forcing developers to figure out new ways of protecting their intellectual property. Thus, DRMs became a thing, with Denuvo becoming one of the biggest names in the industry.

Even though multiple developers have lauded Denuvo for working great to stop piracy, users have very different opinions. Getting past the conspiracy-fueled outcries of “they’re tracking our data!” and other imaginary worries, there are some problems with Denuvo. For example, plenty of users have talked about performance issues caused by it in the past for a multitude of games. These complaints have also forced other developers to give up on it, for games like Doom Eternal or Metro Exodus. So this is just another notch in a long history of problems that have plagued Denuvo.