Denuvo DRM has been often criticized by gamers, chiefly for its purported negative impact on performance in several PC releases.
However, a recent analysis by Peter 'Durante' Thoman published on PC Gamer seems to indicate that no such issue exists - at least for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition, launched on PC via Windows Store, Origin and Steam on March 6th.
He compared three scenes in the release and in the demo build, which did not feature Denuvo DRM. As you can see in the benchmarks below, the first scene didn't have any statistically meaningful differences; the second scene was circa 3.5% slower in the release compared to the demo, but the third one was circa 5.6% faster in the release compared to the demo.
Durante's conclusion is that there's no evidence of the Denuvo DRM software negatively affecting performance in Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition. On the other hand, a comparison test of loading times between the release and the demo showed an increase of 6.7%, though he surmised that might be due to another code difference. Of course, this is ultimately just one game and more comparisons of this kind could paint a clearer picture on the topic.
In related Denuvo news, the company recently got acquired by Irdeto. Reinhard Blaukovitsch, Managing Director of Denuvo, said at the time:
Hackers and cybercriminals in the gaming space are savvy, and always have been. It is critical to implement robust security strategies to combat the latest gaming threats and protect the investment in games. Much like the movie industry, it’s the only way to ensure that great games continue to get made. In joining with Irdeto, we are bringing together a unique combination of security expertise, technology and enhanced piracy services to aggressively address security challenges that customers and gamers face from hackers.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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