Denuvo study sheds light on the DRM’s impact

Fast Denuvo cracks can lower game revenues by as much as 20%, study claims

A recently published study has dove deep into the impact of Denovo on the revenue generation of PC games. This study is titled “Revenue effects of Denuvo digital rights management on PC video games” by William M. Volckmann II and the University of North Carolina.

The study looks into 86 Denuvo-protected games released on Steam between September 2014 and the end of 2022. The study examines the impact of DRM protection on sales in pre- and post-crack scenarios. However, it should be noted that the study acknowledges the challenges of quantifying the financial implications of Denuvo due to the lack of publically accessible sales data for most games.

The study found that piracy can cause a mean revenue drop of 20% if Denuvo is cracked quickly. This means that early cracks for Denuvo-protected games can have a significant impact on sales revenue. Overall, the study claims that Denuvo’s DRM protects a mean of 15% and a median of 20% of total game revenue from piracy. Without Denuvo, this money is reportedly lost to game piracy on PC.

Note that this study has found that Denuvo’s effectiveness diminishes over time. After 12 weeks from launch, it found a mean revenue loss of 0% when a cracked version of a game appeared. As such, it can be concluded that Denuvo should be removed from all games around three months after launch.

Denuvo should be removed from all games after three months

Based on this study, the long-term use of Denuvo isn’t useful for protecting game sales. If developers spend more money to have long DRM contracts, they simply waste money. If the data from this study is accurate, there is no positive business impact for having Denuvo’s DRM protection on a game for more than three months.

Given the reported “negative technical side effects” of Denuvo and other DRM methods, it makes sense to remove DRAM from a technical perspective. If DRM has no positive impact on sales and has a negative potential impact on user experiences, it makes sense to remove it.

Based on this study, Denuvo’s only useful for protecting early game sales. Over time, DRM offers developers diminishing returns, making long-term use a mistake. Regardless, the study has found that using Denuvo can protect a lot of revenue from piracy. That said, it must be remembered that Denuvo’s game protection tools are expensive. If a game is cracked early, developers/publishers may lose money by using the DRM. If a game is cracked on day 1, DRM turns into a cost instead of an asset.

You can join the discussion on Denuvo’s impact on gaming revenues on the OC3D Forums.