PC players are angry over Sonic Mania’s use of Denuvo DRM

Sonic Mania, while being out on consoles for two weeks already, featured a two week delay for the game’s PC port mere days before it was scheduled to release. Now that the PC version has finally been released into consumer’s hands–or digital Steam library–they’re unhappy, as the game features a previously unannounced form of DRM.

Denuvo DRM is yet to be cracked in game’s like Just Cause 3

Sonic Mania uses Denuvo DRM; while the copy-protection method has been used widely in games such as Mass Effect: Andromeda and RiME, the solution is a very controversial choice, even though PC gamers aren’t a fan of DRM anyways.

Denuvo has been shown to deliver some great results on occasion; Avalanche’s Just Cause 3 has still not been cracked to this day. This doesn’t mean that the solution is flawless. Back when the the previously mentioned RiME launched on PC, gamers were mad at the developers for using the solution as it massively hindered the games performance by making literal thousands of calls into the computer’s system.

Now though, fans are angry–and, to be completely honest, rightfully so. With no mention of the game including any form of DRM prior to release (or even on release) and now having to be played online only, Sonic Mania’s PC port could be considered lesser than other systems. Every other port of Sonic Mania can be played without any need for an internet connection, which leaves just PC players having to deal with Denuvo’s server authentication.

Comments such as, “No Offline Play? Seriously? Denuvo? Really?” and, “I don’t care how good the game is or might be – a 2 weeks delay to implement Denuvo?That’s disingenuous. Treating legitimate customers like pirates isn’t cool. I thought Sega learned that – the Bayonetta port didn’t have that crap.” are the brunt of the game’s 500+ negative recommendations on Steam right now, with more flooding in every minute.

Sega have released an official statement regarding the situation over on the game’s news section on Steam. The statement reads: Like you, we’ve noticed an error in the Steam store not mentioning the DRM for Sonic Mania.

We’re fixing that now.

Sonic Mania is intended to be played offline and we’re investigating reports on that.

We’re also investigating other issues like controller support, these are all PC specific things that Christian and the team have been working on these last few weeks

Please bear with us while we collate and investigate problems that are being brought to our attention.”

Hopefully, Sega will be able to bring Sonic Mania’s PC fans a product that they can enjoy both online and offline. After all. why have such a great video game tarnished one simple DRM solution.