IO Interactive has quietly added the controversial Denuvo anti-piracy system to 007 First Light just days before release. The move has triggered a strong backlash from PC players, many of whom are concerned about potential performance loss, technical restrictions and the system’s deeper level of access.
Video game pre-orders have been a topic of debate in the gaming community for years, and more players are becoming wary of them. They have plenty of reasons to be cautious. Players who decide to spend 70-80 euros on a new release risk finding that the game is not properly optimized or does not include complete content. In the case of 007 First Light, many PC players are now angry with IO Interactive because, just days before launch, the studio added a controversial anti-piracy technology that has long been criticized for its possible negative impact on performance.
007 First Light Will Have Denuvo
Just days before its planned May 27 release, IO Interactive quietly added Denuvo to 007 First Light. This is now visible on the game’s Steam product page: Valve’s store now lists the warning “Third-party DRM: Denuvo Anti-Tamper”. However, the change was first detected by the community through SteamDB, quickly generating a major wave of negative comments aimed at both the studio and the game itself.
The Steam forums have been flooded with messages from users announcing the cancellation of their pre-orders and requesting refunds. Complaints focus on the potential performance loss historically associated with Denuvo, but many also object to the restrictions it can impose on SteamOS users when switching Proton versions. The strongest criticism, however, concerns the kernel-level access the protection grants to the system. One comment reads: “It’s off my wishlist. I’ll wait for a big discount; it was going to be the game I was going to dive into next week as soon as it came out.”
As often happens in cases like this, the situation around 007 First Light is unusual. Crimson Desert did something similar when it added Denuvo just days after its release, angering many players toward the Korean studio. Adding Denuvo after a game has already accumulated a large number of pre-orders is a common practice, but it cannot be ruled out that IO Interactive may decide to remove the anti-piracy technology from 007 First Light in the coming months.
It is worth noting that implementing Denuvo can cost more than €100,000 in the first year, so it would not be surprising if it eventually disappeared from the game. It is also possible that performance will remain acceptable even with Denuvo, although to judge that properly, players first need to make sure their PC can run the game smoothly in general. For that, it is worth checking the 007 First Light system requirements.
Source: 3DJuegos
