Denuvo is in hot water after a number of games protected by its DRM technology became unplayable over the weekend.
As PC Gamer reports, players were confronted with a “server not reachable” error in some cases, which on further investigation turned out to be most likely caused by a domain name expiring. More specifically, the Codefusion domain expired on Sept. 24, and the grace period for renewing it likely ended at the weekend taking the Denuvo server communications with it.
In a statement shared with the PC Gamer, Denuvo confirmed that the problem was the result of domain issues, but didn't admit it was due to a lapsed registration. A spokesperson for Denuvo explained, “A Denuvo domain was unreachable yesterday afternoon CET. The problem was fixed after we got notified from our automatic system control.”
The list of inaccessible games includes high-profile titles such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Persona 4 Golden, and even the new Guardians of the Galaxy game. Denuvo says it's working on improvements to prevent this kind of thing happening again in the future. However, this is far from the first time that the DRM provider has caused a stir.
When games protected by Denuvo do work, the DRM can have a serious negative impact on performance. For example, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was found to run up to 30 fps faster with the protection disabled. Add to that the requirement of an internet connection even to play single-player, offline games, and you can see why Denuvo isn't much liked.