Mass Effect: Andromeda’s latest PC patch, version 1.09, adds a lot of fixes and improvements to the massive RPG. The biggest change in the patch, however, is the complete removal of the game’s DRM solution, Denuvo.
Discovered by website DSO Gaming, Andromeda’s 1.09 update completely scraps any use of the Denuvo anti-tampering program from the game. While the game still remains under the protection of EA’s Origin client, a necessity for all modern PC EA games, the removal of Denuvo does leave the game more exploitable on PC.
Denuvo on Mass Effect: Andromeda has already been cracked by pirates as of just two weeks after launch. Despite being protected by both Origin and Denuvo, Mass Effect: Andromeda was cracked in a record time for games using both DRM solutions.
That’s not to say Denuvo is useless. A healthy amount of games using the service are still yet to be cracked by hackers. Star Wars Battlefront, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 and Need for Speed (2015) are just a handful of big budget titles that still have not been cracked by pirates.
Games utilizing Denuvo that do get cracked however, don’t seem to stick around with the program for long. Doom, Inside, Hitman and RiME have all removed the DRM program after having it be cracked by hackers; RiME in particular promised fans of the game that the service would be removed once cracked as it caused numerous problems with the game’s performance.
Denuvo is a very expensive piece of technology for developers to use, but it isn’t designed to complete thwart the plans of those who pirate games. Denuvo is basically a great restaurant on the top of a large hill; it’s still open for business but only for those who can be bothered to get there. The whole point of the service is to try and hold off pirates long enough for them to give up, but with hackers breaking games like Resident Evil 7 in just five days, is the technology already becoming out of date?
