Denuvo's controversial anti-piracy software is coming to protect microtransactions now

Denuvo, the company behind the controversial PC anti-piracy software, has launched a new tool intended to protect DLC and microtransactions from unauthorized access.

The new Denuvo SecureDLC system replaces the DLC entitlement checks of PC storefronts. Ordinarily, games will check whether you own given bits of DLC through technology provided by PC store owners like Steam or Epic. With SecureDLC, that tech runs through Denuvo's "secure mechanism," which is meant to be better protected against piracy.

"Denuvo has become a one-stop shop for game developers to ensure the safety of their game against cheating, tampering, and piracy and to protect the gaming experience," Denuvo managing director Reinhard Blaukovitsch says in a press release. "Our current clients, big and small, are ecstatic with the results and we are happy to help them maximize revenue and also enable new business models for these games they spent so much effort building."

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Denuvo is a brand representing a variety of gaming-focused security tools for developers and publishers, owned by a cybersecurity company called Irdeto. For most PC gamers, however, the name 'Denuvo' is synonymous with Denuvo Anti-Tamper, a piece of digital rights management (or DRM) technology that works to protect many PC games from piracy.

The Denuvo DRM has proven to be one of the most effective pieces of anti-piracy technology out there, often keeping new release games off of pirate sites for weeks or months after launch.

Yet many PC gamers revile the tech, claiming that it makes games perform worse on even high-end systems. These claims have typically not been robustly tested - after all, testing them would require piracy - but convincing cases have been made for performance in games like Resident Evil Village being negatively affected by Denuvo technology.

With or without controversial DRM, the best PC games are not to be missed.