Denuvo says 'there is no uncrackable product'

Denuvo's digital rights management anti-tamper tech (DRM, as it's most commonly known) is designed to prevent games from being pirated. It's not without its critics, but Denuvo itself now says "there is no uncrackable product".

In conversation with gamesindustry.biz, Denuvo's sales director Elmar Fischer says pirates are often driven by a desire to crack games quickly, and that, unlike the film industry, there aren't clear records relevant to videogame piracy.

Last year, the anti-piracy firm admitted its anti-piracy tech is not "uncrackable" after Resident Evil 7 was cracked in less than seven days. To this end, Fischer says Denuvo's anti-tamper tech is far from impenetrable, and that its goal is to conserve early sales.

"Games will be cracked at certain points; there is no uncrackable product," Fischer tells GI.biz. "But what we do is protect the initial sales... Our goal, and it's still the goal, is to protect initial sales. Of course we would like to have it uncracked forever, but that just doesn't happen in the games industry."

Fischer adds that it's become increasingly difficult to tell how many people who choose to pirate games would otherwise pay if given the option. If a game takes several months to be cracked, for example, the delay may encourage those keen on piracy to consider buying instead. But if a game is cracked in just days, convenience players a part in the process.

"You can see the piracy of the games, but it's really tough to tell how many of these would have bought the game," adds Fischer. "We can estimate, and even if you take a small percentage of this number then the revenue would increase dramatically."

Read gamesindustry.biz's interview with Fischer in full this way.