If are a PC gamer, then you are probably familiar with Denuvo. This is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) service that is popular with PC game publishers. The parent company, Irdeto, has announced their plans to bring their service to the Android platform. The Android version will be called Mobile Game Protection which is allegedly rather easy for developers to implement into the final APK file. There is still no word on how quickly hackers will be able to remove it afterwards. If the speed of hackers on PC is any indication, it won’t be long.
Digital Rights Management hurts the honest players
I am not sure who thought making honest players work harder to enjoy their games was a good idea. It is a part of life though. DRM simply makes playing games harder, and more troublesome, for honest gamers. In many cases, the DRM software causes incompatibility issues or performance hits while playing.
Performance problems are an issue with Irdeto. According to Droidgamers.com fans have been vocal about frame drops in Irdeto DRM’ed games. They also mention that load times are increased. I don’t know about you but that is two strikes against this software and could make me not play a game.
Performance hits can cause players to leave faster than hackers
I have played a lot of games on Android. I currently play a lot of PUBG Mobile for instance. That game is rampant with hackers but the company behind it takes their own steps to block these hackers. They don’t rely on software that is going to hinder the enjoyment of the honest players.
While manually blocking hackers is more time consuming and annoying, it is probably the best way to handle them. Why make honest players wait longer to play a version of your game that is going to run poorly? That is exactly what is happening when companies use DRM software such as Irdeto.
Will you support games using performance harming DRM?
Unfortunately, if you are an honest player then you will have no choice in the future. It is just a direction games are going. This could be because of a few bad apples in the fan base or it could be greed of companies already making millions every year. The side you take depends on you personally. I know I am as honest a player as I can be. I support legal re-releases and new releases when they are made available DRM free just to show my support. Yes, I buy cross digital store games on GoG.com instead of Steam whenever possible just to show my support for this trust in the fans.
