As we reported earlier, a sole video games cracker who goes by the alias of Empress, issued a challenge to Warner Bros and Denuvo regarding the addition of third party DRM in the latest hit game, Hogwarts: Legacy. Developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros, Hogwarts:Legacy launched on 10th February to massive success. The game was not only praised universally by the critics, but it also became a fan favourite with over 100k reviews on steam (overwhelmingly positive). Despite having some technical issues, the game is very well received across all platforms and is still among steam global top sellers.
The whole drama started when a person, Empress, who is famous for cracking Denuvo, took a jab at Warner Bros and their decision to include Denuvo’s anti-temper in their game. Denuvo is notoriously difficult to crack or bypass and some games with Denuvo are still uncracked even after years of their release.
With the release of Hogwarts: Legacy and Dead Space, Denuvo updated their protection and the newest revision is now codenamed v17 among crackers. Apparently, it is not only Denuvo’s best work to date, but it is almost impossible to crack given thousands of security checks it performs. Empress issued a bold warning to WB to not include Denuvo in their game or they will crack it in 10 days, making the inclusion of super costly DRM useless.
Denuvo has always used the phrase “protect your software sales during the initial launch period” as their main motto. For this reason, they charge periodically. Most publishers use their annual payment system where they usually remove Denuvo after a year or so. For permanent inclusion, publishers have to pay yearly royalties to Denuvo. The removal of Denuvo by a hacker in just 10 days is not only a massive blow to the publishers who are paying exorbitant amounts to secure their games, but also to the reputation of Denuvo. Proclaimed as “the best protection for your PC, mobile and console games” by Denuvo itself, removal of their DRM in just 10 days by one person is a massive setback for them.
Hogwarts:Legacy is the highest profile title in recent memory that has gone through so much controversy. First the boycott of the game regarding the views of J.K Rowlings (author of Harry Potter books) and then the only title in the past few years with Denuvo that was cracked in less than 15 days.
Disclaimer: Empress is banned from Reddit and a lot of other social media platforms because of their political views and rants. They are not only abusive but extremely violent towards a particular community. We at Techdrake don’t endorse such views, so we can’t link you to it. We also do not condone piracy but acknowledge its existence and the effects of DRM-heavy video game releases.
