One week before its release, Crimson Desert unexpectedly added Denuvo.

Recently, Crimson Desert added confirmation on its Steam page that it uses Denuvo copyright protection software.

In recent months, it seems everyone has been eagerly anticipating Crimson Desert – its scale, graphics, deep combat system, and especially its massive single-player world, styled like a miniature MMORPG, have caused interest to skyrocket.

Despite some lingering concerns about the overly complex control system, it seems certain this will be one of the biggest new releases of the year. However, with only a week left until launch, some PC players may be disappointed to learn that, on Steam, Crimson Desert will require Denuvo software protection.

Denuvo is arguably the most popular anti-crack measure for games today, and it's certain that developer and publisher Pearl Abyss would want to avoid losing revenue due to piracy.

A study by William Volckmann, published in last year's #52 issue of Entertainment Computing, showed that games can lose up to 20% of their revenue if they are cracked in the first week—a significant number if Crimson Desert's sales skyrocket as I predict; all my casual gaming friends are talking about it, which is usually a very strong sign that it's going to be a blockbuster.

Denuvo's poor reputation among PC gamers isn't entirely unfounded. A/B testing on numerous games that eventually had DRM removed showed that, in some cases, performance improved significantly after Denuvo was removed. Therefore, the sudden addition of Denuvo to a blockbuster like Crimson Desert shortly after its release, despite the high FPS across platforms, sparked considerable controversy, with many gamers believing it was a deceptive move.

On Reddit, players are delaying their purchase of the game, while some are claiming they will refund their pre-orders. Meanwhile, others are eager to see how the game performs on day one before making a decision.