Lego Batman's Denuvo was fully cracked on release day, the first true day-one crack since 2018.
In a bid to protect their products from pirates, game developers have deployed all kinds of DRM measures.
Last month, the final game protected with Denuvo got a way to subvert it, making the DRM software ineffective via a crack or through a hypervisor.
Now, someone has managed to crack open a title's Denuvo protection on release day, and people are left wondering what the DRM service can actually do for developers now.
On the same day the game came out, someone published a full crack for Lego Batman's Denuvo implementation.
Summary Gamers say Denuvo hurts performance, forces online checks, and complicates Linux play.
Lego Batman's Denuvo was fully cracked on release day, the first true day-one crack since 2018.
Day-one cracks and hypervisor workarounds make Denuvo costly, unpopular, and arguably ineffective.
In a bid to protect their products from pirates, game developers have deployed all kinds of DRM measures. One of the more reviled options is Denuvo, with gamers claiming it actively hampers game performance, requires an internet connection for single-player games, and causes headaches for people who want to play on Linux.
Then something began to shift. Last month, the final game protected with Denuvo got a way to subvert it, making the DRM software ineffective via a crack or through a hypervisor. Now, someone has managed to crack open a title's Denuvo protection on release day, and people are left wondering what the DRM service can actually do for developers now.
The new Lego Batman game receives a day one Denuvo crack
It's a huge blow to the protection software
Credit: WB Games
On May 22nd, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight was released with Denuvo protection baked in. On the same day the game came out, someone published a full crack for Lego Batman's Denuvo implementation. It's worth noting that this was not a hypervisor workaround, nor did someone leak a build without Denuvo; this was a full crack on release day, something that hadn't been done since Hitman 2's release in 2018.
When you combine this development with Denuvo's back catalog being completely circumvented by cracks and hypervisor workarounds, gamers are beginning to wonder whether the DRM software has any value left. If people continue to post day-one cracks for Denuvo titles, game developers will essentially be paying a lot of money and implementing a much-disliked DRM method for a measly few hours, if not minutes, of protection.
Regardless of how Denuvo's company feels about its software, the gamers have made their opinion clear: they feel it adds a ton of drawbacks for very little gain, even for the game's developers.
