Crimson Desert Will Have Denuvo Anti-Tampering On Launch

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

It feels like almost every day now, new information comes out about Crimson Desert. Today, for the first time, I saw new images of people using jetpacks in the game. It looks completely insane, finding unique ways to combine fantasy and sci-fi, and I love it. However, the team is taking precautions in many different ways, including adding Denuvo.

Earlier today, a week before it releases, developer Pearl Abyss modified Crimson Desert’s Steam store page to note that it does have Denuvo anti-tamper DRM. This means that you’ll only be able to activate the game on five devices within a day, as well as provide services to ward off privacy. This was confirmed on SteamDB, where it shows they added Denuvo to the store page earlier today.

Now, PC gamers generally dislike Denuvo for a few reasons. One of these is the fact that Denuvo can hurt performance for a lot of games. However, Crimson Desert seems very well optimized, so the performance hit may not be noticeable. I can also understand Pearl Abyss’ desire to curb piracy as much as they can. This game is massive and has received a lot of publicity, so it makes sense that they wanna make sure the people who are playing have purchased the game and are not cracking it. Now, this may not stop them in the end, but it could delay or ward it off for some time.

Generally, I don’t like Denuvo either, and any sort of DRM for single-player titles is usually the one I dislike the most. However, I can at least understand it in this case. Hopefully, the issues that could arise from having Denuvo aren’t felt as much here. The game still looks amazing, and I can’t wait to talk about it.

Crimson Desert can be pre-purchased for $69.99 ahead of its March 19th release date.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!