Video game piracy causes significant financial losses. A recent study shows that a cracked game can lose up to 20% of its revenue in the first week.
A debate on the effectiveness of protections like Denuvo and on the real impact of piracy is open.
A study, published in Entertainment Computingexamined 86 games protected by Denuvo between 2014 and 2022. These titles, available on Steam, have shown that piracy can lead to a significant drop in salesespecially during the first weeks after their launch.
Research shows Denuvo effectively protects games during the first 12 weeksa key period when the majority of sales are made. A crack that appears quickly can lead to a drop in income of up to 20%.
Denuvo: a temporary shield
The study reveals that a crack in the first days strongly affects income. However, if the hack occurs after six weeks, the loss is limited to around 5%. After 12 weeks, sales become so low that the impact of piracy is almost insignificant. At this point, some editors remove Denuvo to respond to player criticism opposed to DRM.
For years, the impact of video game piracy on sales has been the subject of heated debate. Some consider that each illegal download is equivalent to a lost salewhile others argue that pirates would never have purchased the game anyway. This study provides concrete data to this debate by showing that losses due to piracy are reals, but their magnitude varies depending on when crack becomes available.
Denuvo, despite the criticism, becomes more durable over time. In 2024, among the 28 games protected by this system, 26 had not been hacked 12 weeks after release. This result shows that the effectiveness of Denuvo is improving, even if hacking eventually occurs in the majority of cases.
For publishers, DRM like Denuvo is essential to protect the launch periodwhere incomes reach their peak. Without these protections, a game risks seeing its sales drop in the first few weeks. It therefore becomes necessary to use these solutions to limit losses. However, I think it would be relevant to explore other approaches in order to better reconcile protection and the satisfaction of players, who regularly express criticism of DRM.
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