Denuvo by Irdeto has unveiled at GDC (Game Developers Conference) this past March 18th their brand new anti-piracy technology named "TraceMark", specifically tailored to make "leakers think twice".

This new technology is aimed towards the never-ending problem in the gaming industry of pre-release videogame leaks, be it press releases, distributed review copies or broken street dates. The watermark technology which Denuvo unveiled is apparently already trusted by Hollywood, paid-TV and sports leagues. Quoting Denuvo's own blogpost about the technology:

It introduces a deterrent effect by enabling the precise tracing of leaked content back to its source. This capability makes potential leakers think twice, knowing that any unauthorized distribution can be directly linked to them.

This brand new technology will be platform-agnostic, meaning it can be implemented in different systems as long as the game has the technology integrated into it, and so far it seems to be compatible with Xbox, iOS, Windows and Nintendo Switch . It aims to "incorporate both invisible and visible watermarking techniques".

Currently there's no set date on when this new technology will begin to be rolled out, but it's most likely that game developers will start getting access to this implementation soon.

Source

 

[JeepX87]

I'm probably in the minority, but I think it's a good idea to watermark review copies to help identify leakers. Early leak of a game contributes to make pirates look even worse than their already bad reputation. It's not fair to the legit users, who have to wait for the release date. It also infuriates game companies and makes them do extreme retaliations (like DMCA some emulators or github pages). All that for the sake of playing a game a week earlier than release date. Not worth it. I can easily wait for release date to play a new game, since my backlog is huge anyways. I don't think a simple watermark would negatively affect performance for the regular users, but I'm no expert.

I can see now and the watermark has been around for years - Bethesda put watermark on ESO for whoever play beta version and help to identity someone who stream or leak.

 

[ZeroFX]

Cretins.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Personally I can't say I hate nor like Denuvo. I know what it is and what it is for, and I have played games that had this DRM integrated, last game I played being Sonic Mania. I can't say this impacts me much at all considering I already don't like AAA gaming as a whole, so I don't ever really touch anything that would commonly have it. With the way things are going with gaming, DRM is probably the least of our worries, the games being released in a broken state is worse than DRM in my opinion, because if the game isn't even functional, then it isn't worth touching with a 10 foot pole to begin with, DRM free or not.

As for combating the pirate copy leaks, this honestly doesn't seem so bad of an idea, I'm rather tired of the pirate copy game leaks, there's really no reason for them, it isn't like the old days where scene groups were competitive on who could crack (if needed) and release the stuff first. These days the only thing it does is bring out the ugly in some people, most can't keep their dang composure and shut their traps, they for whatever reason have to partake in plastering spoilers all over the place before street date, and giving the middle finger to those waiting it out patiently and telling those people to just stay off the internet basically if they don't want to see spoilers, which to me is rather stupid logic. No matter how I try to look at this, there just isn't any good to be had with the pirate copy game leaks, so if this works to a certain degree, good I guess, I see no reason why we all just can't wait for the games to come out anyways. Even more dumb if you already planned to pirate the game anyways even after release, whether you pirated it a week before release or pirated after it released, the game is still the same damn game either way, which means your view of the game won't be different between the two scenarios, therefore, there is no reason to play a leaked game before street date, it's like speeding down a highway, only to get stopped by a red light, did you breaking the speed limit laws get yourself anywhere different, faster, or in better fashion? No, you were met with with the same limits as everyone else not speeding, difference is everyone else isn't being stupid and doing pointless and reckless things on the road, likewise with the leaks in this case, just thankfully without the risk of bad accidents against the lives of others.

 

[The Catboy]

Me who only uses cracked games, “I don’t care”

 

[TomSwitch]

It does seems like people here hate Nintendo much more than Denuvo. Strange, Denuvo only bring degradation to your games and nothing that is good for you, they already brought late access and no access and now they are blocking early access.

 

[The Catboy]

It does seems like people here hate Nintendo much more than Denuvo. Strange, Denuvo only bring degradation to your games and nothing else that is good for you, they already brought late access and no access and now they are blocking early access.

For me, I hate Denuvo but since I literally always crack my games (legal or otherwise,) I literally don’t have the spoons to give to Denuvo

 

[TomSwitch]

For me, I hate Denuvo but since I literally always crack my games (legal or otherwise,) I literally don’t have the spoons to give to Denuvo

Only works if you are a leaker and I doubt a generic watermark removal tool can be made so if Denuvo don't ask for too much money leaks will be reduced if not eradicated.

 

[MochaMods]

Maybe a semi off-topic tangent on this topic, but I think way too many people are overlooking the intense over surveillance of video games in the name of copywrite law and integrity. We're giving so much to these developers and hoping cheating will stop, and hoping they won't sell our data. Like kernel level anticheats are being exploited, making you, the user vulnerable and at the mercy of someone who has no good intentions. Were that to progress and potentially effect your own purchased video games through an evolution of a tech like this would be a disgusting breach of privacy and security. I'd rather have someone cheat in a game and ruin my experience, or have someone steal a copy of a game from a AAA dev then allow myself to be potentially targeted with an actually serious hack or have my legally purchased item used against me to steal my data, constantly verifying if the game is real, and even possibly being an entry point to someone who knows what they're doing. I sincerely do not think that any amount of company profit loss due to piracy or in game cheating is worth the trade off we've been slowly experiencing and subserviently taking. Especially if your personal data is being siphoned and sold, or your actual personal life is at risk.

But I know at the end of the day, some Nintendo freak is going to cope on why this is a good idea and that we need more anti consumer practices in our media.

 

[NyaakoXD]

This just sounds like another thing they're throwing at the wall. Like, they announced that one Denuvo thing for Android and then another for Switch, but neither of them came to be after all this time.

 

[TomSwitch]

Maybe a semi off-topic tangent on this topic, but I think way too many people are overlooking the intense over surveillance of video games in the name of copywrite law and integrity. We're giving so much to these developers and hoping cheating will stop, and hoping they won't sell our data. Like kernel level anticheats are being exploited, making you, the user vulnerable and at the mercy of someone who has no good intentions. Were that to progress and potentially effect your own purchased video games through an evolution of a tech like this would be a disgusting breach of privacy and security. I'd rather have someone cheat in a game and ruin my experience, or have someone steal a copy of a game from a AAA dev then allow myself to be potentially targeted with an actually serious hack or have my legally purchased item used against me to steal my data, constantly verifying if the game is real, and even possibly being an entry point to someone who knows what they're doing. I sincerely do not think that any amount of company profit loss due to piracy or in game cheating is worth the trade off we've been slowly experiencing and subserviently taking. Especially if your personal data is being siphoned and sold, or your actual personal life is at risk.

But I know at the end of the day, some Nintendo freak is going to cope on why this is a good idea and that we need more anti consumer practices in our media.

How about boycotting game platforms that require administrator privileges ( is it only pirated games give you that ? )

 

[MochaMods]

How about boycotting game platforms that require administrator privileges ( is it only pirated games give you that ? )

Sorry I don't understand what you mean, Administrator access is nowhere near as detrimental as something that is kernel level. (If that's what you mean't)

 

[TomSwitch]

Sorry I don't understand what you mean, Administrator access is nowhere near as detrimental as something that is kernel level. (If that's what you mean't)

After you give that to the game platform what it cannot do?

 

[Shubshub]

Btw it wouldnt make any sense to put this into a Final Build, The whole idea of this is that each version sent out to reviewers would be marked to identify that reviewer specifically, Or whoever its sent out to,

And if a random gets their hands on it and leaks it well the blame will go to the one the watermark is marked for because either way the leak came from that person at some point

 

[TomSwitch]

Btw it wouldnt make any sense to put this into a Final Build, The whole idea of this is that each version sent out to reviewers would be marked to identify that reviewer specifically, Or whoever its sent out to,

And if a random gets their hands on it and leaks it well the blame will go to the one the watermark is marked for because either way the leak came from that person at some point

It could be a all in one not sold separately thing. Maybe you will need a "ask game not to track" box in the future with the better platform.

 

[LightBeam]

Hmm... this seriously violates the GDPR. Not sure how it's applicable in Europe.

Could you elaborate how it violates the GDPR ?

 

[Shubshub]

It could be a all in one not sold separately thing.

That would defeat the purpose of the technology entirely

Likely what would happen is a News Outlet would be delegated a set of keys, Those keys will likely download a version watermarked for that News Outlet

 

[chrisrlink]

This doesn't seem like a good idea at all, like, look how flawed the anti-cheat for Apex Legends is amongst other games that use Easy Anti-Cheat.

don't remind me a high percentage of EAC games won't even work on a steam deck on steam os 3, the only problem is if a said (disgruntled employee who hasn't been let go yet swipes the review copy and dumps it) who's to blame the company?

 

[wurstpistole]

"and Nintendo Switch', Oh-oh.

At this point in the Switch's lifecycle, who really gives a shit?

 

[MochaMods]

After you give that to the game platform what it cannot do?

No offense but I think you might want to read up on the two things, they're hardly comparible. The kernel is what communicates to your actual components, it's much more than just an operating system priviledge. It can be incredibly difficult to detect and patch, corrupt system data, destabilize the system entirely, and it allows unrestricted access to literally any process happening on your computer at anytime.

 

[TomSwitch]

No offense but I think you might want to read up on the two things, they're hardly comparible. The kernel is what communicates to your actual components, it's much more than just an operating system priviledge. It can be incredibly difficult to detect and patch, corrupt system data, destabilize the system entirely, and it allows unrestricted access to literally any process happening on your computer at anytime.

You mean as administrator you cannot install something to the kernel or you just trust that it wasn't done.

Having the ability and actually doing it is of course different and there is nothing to be confused about

Post automatically merged: Mar 20, 2024

At this point in the Switch's lifecycle, who really gives a shit?

I guess you did care enough to post how you don't care. People are complicated