Amplitude Studios pulls Denuvo-drm from strategy game Humankind for release
Amplitude Studios is pulling Denuvo’s drm software out of its upcoming strategy game, Humankind, even before release. The developer announced this in a blog post. The studio made this choice “based on data from the closed beta” of the game.
Amplitude Studios boss Romain de Waubert is making the decision public on the company’s Games2gether platform. De Waubert does this in response to a forum post with user feedback . In it, a user reports that he or she initially wanted to pre-order the game on Steam, but ultimately declined because Denuvo-drm is used in the game.
Denuvo’s drm software functions as copy protection and is intended to prevent piracy. In certain games, the software may cause performance degradation. Recently, for example, the software has been criticized for performance issues in Resident Evil Village, which were fixed via a crack that removed the Denuvo drm from the game. In response, Capcom released an update with ‘drm optimizations’.
De Waubert explains, among other things, why the studio initially wanted to use the DRM software. “We work really hard and put our hearts into the games we make, and piracy really impacts our ability to keep making games for you,” the studio boss wrote. “We’re one of the most wishlisted games on Steam this year , so we know we’re going to be targeted by pirates more than any of our previous games. If Denuvo can stop a cracked version, if only for a a few days, then that can really help us protect our release.”
Nevertheless, the studio has decided to remove the DRM software from the game before release. De Waubert reports that the studio’s priority is to provide the best possible experience for players. “Denuvo should never affect player performance, and we don’t want to sacrifice quality for you. We believe it can with the right integration, and that’s what we wanted to test during the Closed Beta. However, we found that the way it was integrated now wasn’t good enough, and it’s not something we can fix before release, so we’re taking it out.” The developer also reports that there are currently no plans to add Denuvo-drm to the game after release.
Humankind is a 4x strategy game, similar to strategy games like Civilization and Amplitude Studios’ earlier games like Endless Legend. The game will be released on August 17 for Windows, macOS and Stadia.