After the leak from a week ago, Sony has confirmed that the action game Stellar Blade will debut on PC on June 11. However, it immediately became clear that even though the game did not require users to register for a PlayStation Network account, Stellar Blade was still unavailable for purchase in approximately 130 countries.
South Korean developer Shift Up has commented on that issue and others, such as the criticized addition of the Denuvo DRM software, in a post shared on X. Regarding the region lock, they are working with Sony to remedy the situation; when it comes to Denuvo, they posted a table showing that the DRM software doesn't actually decrease frame rates when playing the game.
- We are closely discussing the region lock issue with the publisher and are doing our BEST to resolve most of it as soon as possible.
- As shown in the test chart below, the DRM has been hard tuned to maintain the same average frame rate, with even higher minimum frames in some cases. Mods are fully supported without any restrictions.
- PSN connecting is entirely optional and NEVER required.
- Both the PC and PS5 versions offer the same content. We will make sure that early buyers are never at a disadvantage through future updates.
| Performance Check | Denuvo On | Denuvo Off |
| Metric | Protected | Unprotected |
| Average frame rate | 59.9 | 59.9 |
| Minimum frame rate | 58.2 | 48.6 |
| Maximum frame rate | 60.8 | 61.4 |
| 1% low frame rate | 32,8 | 32.5 |
| 0.1% low frame rate | 30,4 | 31.7 |
Needless to say, many PC users are still doubtful about the inclusion of Denuvo in Stellar Blade. In the past, the DRM software was involved in claims that it negatively affected performance, such as with Tekken 7 and, more recently, Resident Evil Village. Other times, it turned out that the anti-tamper software was not responsible for any performance decrease.
With only three weeks left before the launch, we won't have to wait long before learning how well Stellar Blade is optimized. The developer has made bold claims, though:
After extensive testing and relentless optimization, the game delivers high frame rates on a variety of setups. Even on the Steam Deck, you can reach 45–50 FPS with the right settings.
Meanwhile, the game has climbed the best-selling chart on Steam with its pre-orders, making Shift Up very happy. Check out our Stellar Blade PS5 review to learn what we thought of the game when it first launched on Sony's console.
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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