Denovothe company known for its namesake DRM, has taken on Take legal action against hackers Accused of releasing a “crack” capable of removing anti-piracy systems from dozens of video games.
Denuvo has long been a topic of debate in the PC gaming community because some users believe it can negatively impact performance. Although workarounds based on installing kernel-level drivers emerged late last year, many gamers found it too risky to grant such deep access to their operating systems to software of dubious origin. As a result, traditional “cracks” continue to be produced and downloaded, both for pirated games and for removing DRM from legally purchased copies.
looking for hackers
According to specialist newspaper TorrentFreak, Denuvo’s legal attention is now focused on “Sound 38“, a prolific cracker who recently released documents to remove protections from nearly three dozen securities. In a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the company accused the anonymous person (or entity) behind the pseudonym The technology of at least 26 video games has been compromised.
Titles listed in the legal filing include Resident Evil Requiem, Star Blade, Black Myth: Wukong, Dawn of Dawn, Pragmata, Hogwarts Legacy, Sonic Frontier, Assassin’s Creed Phantoms, Mafia: Earth Mother, Warriors: Dark Ages, and Dead Space: Dark Ages.
PC version of Final Fantasy 7: Revelations will be protected by Denuvo
Denuvo claims in its complaint that voices38 “circumvented Denuvo’s anti-tampering systems and DRM restrictions, removed copyright protections that restricted illegal access, and allowed the creation and distribution of pirated versions of all listed games.”
The company is asking the court to order the defendants to pay damages for violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It also seeks a formal injunction to prevent hackers from “circumventing the Denuvo anti-tamper system in any past, present or future video games.”
Specifications related to “future” games seem to be very popular: voices38 is actually continuing its activity, releasing cracked patches for other games such as Persona 3 Reload and Star Wars: Outlaws.
at the moment voices38’s true identity remains unknown. However, the complaint includes the suspect’s Discord user ID, his Reddit account, and seven Steam profiles associated with him. Denuvo’s official goal is presumably to obtain a judge’s warrant to force Discord, Reddit, and Valve to provide sensitive data related to those accounts, thereby identifying the individual.
Despite taking legal action, the hackers don’t seem to be stopping just yet. Respond to forum complaint messages Reddit’s “CrackWatch”voices38 sent a short message: “Everything is fine. Everything will go on as usual.”