Anti-piracy company wants to sell Nintendo Switch DRM

Denuvo, the company best known for its much-criticized DRM technology for PC games, has set its sights on a new scourge: Nintendo Switch piracy. The software maker announced during GamesCom 2022 on Wednesday that it will start selling a new product called the Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection to prevent Switch games from being pirated on PC.

It doesn’t appear to be partnering with Nintendo on this initiative, which appears to be aimed mostly at third-party multiplatform game publishers. “As with all other Denuvo solutions, the technology integrates seamlessly into the build of the toolchain without any impact on the gaming experience. It then allows checks to be inserted into the code, which prohibits playing on emulators,” the company wrote in press release. But in the past, Dinovo’s “checks” have been accused Made some games go worse.

emulation switch It’s come a long way since the console launched in 2017, and now it’s not uncommon for some tech enthusiasts to play legally purchased Switch offerings on a simulator running on a more powerful gaming machine. The result can mean higher resolutions, frame rates, and other performance improvements.

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But the Switch, like previous Nintendo handhelds before it, It is also vulnerable to hacking, with users distributing online game ROMs to be played on jailbroken Switch devices or, more often, a Switch emulator on PC. And that’s what Denuvo claims to be cracking up on, especially with games on both Switch and PC.

“Even if the game is protected against hacking on its PC version, the version released on the Switch from day one can be emulated and played on the PC, thus bypassing the robust protection offered on the PC version,” Denuvo wrote. “Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure that anyone wishing to play the game must purchase a legitimate copy.”

Meanwhile, a lot of PC games have removed Denuvo’s anti-tamper protections in recent years. In the late 2000s, it’s more like a game for hackers to see how fast they can “hack” The latest protected game from Denuvo. Recently, studios have sometimes removed Denuvo DRM themselves Even before the game comes outEither because of backlash from fans or because of concerns about how this could happen detrimental to technical performance.

Nintendo has taken a different approach to cracking down on Switch piracy. he is called, Lawsuits And in one particularly severe case, cooperating with federal prosecutors to… Send intruders to prison. Nintendo and Denovo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.