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Sonic Mania Denuvo DRM cracked

orava

Member
Shitty consoles vs shitty DRM practices.

DW2sQyU.gif
 

thsantos

Member
In order to use my credit card online, I have to enter the expiration date and security code. This is somewhat annoying. I'm a legitimate customer, why should I have to prevent the bank from fraudsters?

Do you work for denuvo? Because you're not helping their image at all.
 
*Before Denuvo gets cracked*
"Don't know why people are against Denuvo, helps to fight piracy! People against it advocates piracy"
*Denuvo gets cracked after release of game*
"See? All games gets cracked anyway. There's no problem with Denuvo you just use the crack if some problem happens!"

:/
 
*Before Denuvo gets cracked*
"Don't know why people are against Denuvo, helps to fight piracy! People against it advocates piracy"
*Denuvo gets cracked after release of game*
"See? All games gets cracked anyway. There's no problem with Denuvo you just use the crack if some problem happens!"

:/

You can just translate all of that to "why do care about something I don't care about? Stop doing that!".
 
*Before Denuvo gets cracked*
"Don't know why people are against Denuvo, helps to fight piracy! People against it advocates piracy"
*Denuvo gets cracked after release of game*
"See? All games gets cracked anyway. There's no problem with Denuvo you just use the crack if some problem happens!"

:/

another thing I constantly hear:
"Companies are just trying to protect their IP, what's wrong with that."
 

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
*Before Denuvo gets cracked*
"Don't know why people are against Denuvo, helps to fight piracy! People against it advocates piracy"
*Denuvo gets cracked after release of game*
"See? All games gets cracked anyway. There's no problem with Denuvo you just use the crack if some problem happens!"

:/

Is it not plausible that you are referring to different sets of people with different opinions? 🤔
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
I'm probably late to the Sonic Crackers joke
But just in time for the DRM-ridden credit cards.

*Before Denuvo gets cracked*
"Don't know why people are against Denuvo, helps to fight piracy! People against it advocates piracy"
*Denuvo gets cracked after release of game*
"See? All games gets cracked anyway. There's no problem with Denuvo you just use the crack if some problem happens!"

:/
Gotta love that circular logic. DRM is good because it will get cracked when needed, and since games are going to be cracked they need to have DRM.

You can just translate all of that to "why do care about something I don't care about? Stop doing that!".
Also known as the "Switch game tiles effect".
 
this is a legitimate argument though.

There's nothing wrong with companies trying to protect their IPs, but how is Denuvo helping that when it gets cracked after quickly after launch, and/or inconveniences paying customers.
That excuse doesn't work when pirates get a better version of the game.
 

holygeesus

Banned
There's nothing wrong with companies trying to protect their IPs, but how is Denuvo helping that when it gets cracked after quickly after launch, and/or inconveniences paying customers.

You realise how many games are sold within the first few weeks of launch right? That is what they are trying to protect with Denuvo.
 
You realise how many games are sold within the first few weeks of launch right? That is what they are trying to protect with Denuvo.
Protect from what, people who can wait a week tops for a crack?

If they want to use DRM, thats fair game, just dont use one that negatively impacts your paying customers, is that too much to ask?
 
You realise how many games are sold within the first few weeks of launch right? That is what they are trying to protect with Denuvo.

I know most games make their sales within the first week but:

1.) If it's only for the first week then why do most games keep their DRM after they've been cracked.
2.) Games like Life is Strange got cracked a day after launch, what protection did DRM bring them there.
3.) Pirates can wait for their game to get cracked. Games like Sniper Elite 4 was 3rd most pirated game of June when it came out in February.
 

holygeesus

Banned
Protect from what, people who can wait a week tops for a crack?

If they want to use DRM, thats fair game, just dont use one that negatively impacts your paying customers, is that too much to ask?

Strange. I've been buying DRM-ed titles for years and never had an issue. Admittedly game preservation isn't really one of my priorities, and I *can* understand that being an issue for some. Ever since I first bought HL2, buying PC games has never really 'felt' like ownership to me anyway, not in the same way as owning physical copies in the past, or even console games today.
 
Strange. I've been buying DRM-ed titles for years and never had an issue. Admittedly game preservation isn't really one of my priorities, and I *can* understand that being an issue for some. Ever since I first bought HL2, buying PC games has never really 'felt' like ownership to me anyway, not in the same way as owning physical copies in the past, or even console games today.

But you're still willing to pay full price for the titles you feel that way about?
 

ChryZ

Member
"Let's protect our first week of launch by delaying the PC version two weeks. Genius"
Yeah, rolling with the warm reception and hype would have sold more copies.

Now they actually burned loads of good will and have to pay a third party for a solution which lasted 8 days.

I highly doubt this whole mess paid off for Sega.
 
Well, isn't that amazing.

The argument about protecting early sales is something that sounds plausibly as something higher ups would believe. I have lived in Bytebeard Bay of sorts for over a decade though, and it's not that much of a thing at least on my "shore". What really happens is that you are potentially delaying the release of "pirate port" of the game - this removes some of the hype just like regular PC delays, but you are not going to make significant amount of pirates spend money just due to timed exclusivity, while their "platform" is flooding in content anyway. I won't swear there are no exceptions, but I don't know any - in the entertainment category, that is. Professional software is a different story.

Now a lot of people on GAF would, based on this, argue for no steps against pirates at all, and I disagree. As a game copyright owner you have a moral greenlight to screw with them to the level comparable to pirates screwing with you. Screwing more and more with your perfectly regular consumers instead is, on the other hand, thoroughly confused at best.
 

Earth

Banned
Yeah, rolling with the warm reception and hype would have sold more copies.

Now they actually burned loads of good will and have to pay a third party for a solution which lasted 8 days.

I highly doubt this whole mess paid off for Sega.

Yeah - if SteamSpy is any rough indication, it seems this whole mess kinda torpedoed its sales:

 

Paragon

Member
What huge advantage does Sonic Mania have on PC?
The ability to still play the game 5-10 years from now, without being sold it again. (at least now that it's cracked)
Not having to rely on other companies actively supporting their old products in order to play them on current hardware or fear that support will be removed with system updates.
The ability to mod the game.
To play multiplayer without squashing the image or on a rotated display.
To play at higher resolutions without blurring or lag from upscaling.
To use any controller that you want - like an original Genesis or Saturn gamepad.

Any of my digital Xbox purchases - whether games or DLC - are completely lost now. There is no way to retrieve them if I buy an Xbox One today.
Even if I still have the discs, I can't play my Xbox games today.
There is limited 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One, so I would only be able to play some of my previously purchased games. Many XBLA games like Rez HD are unsupported.
There is no backwards compatibility for PSN at all, as far as I am aware. All of my PS3 purchases are gone now that Sony no longer manufacture PS3 hardware.

Strange. I've been buying DRM-ed titles for years and never had an issue.
I guess you don't play many old games on PC then, or are oblivious to games which previously had DRM and are only working today due to its removal - whether by the publisher/developer (rare) or via cracks.
 

Berordn

Member
How many units did you think Sonic was going to sell on pc?

Kind of missing the point when you can see the numbers going down.

Other Sonic games have sold fairly well on PC. Though it's had plenty of sales and a Humble Bundle under its belt, Sonic Generations hit 800k. Even Lost World is sitting around 160k.
 

Budi

Member
The ability to still play the game 5-10 years from now, without being sold it again. (at least now that it's cracked)
Not having to rely on other companies actively supporting their old products in order to play them on current hardware or fear that support will be removed with system updates.
The ability to mod the game.
To play multiplayer without squashing the image or on a rotated display.
To play at higher resolutions without blurring or lag from upscaling.
To use any controller that you want - like an original Genesis or Saturn gamepad.

Any of my digital Xbox purchases - whether games or DLC - are completely lost now. There is no way to retrieve them if I buy an Xbox One today.
Even if I still have the discs, I can't play my Xbox games today.
There is limited 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One, so I would only be able to play some of my previously purchased games. Many XBLA games like Rez HD are unsupported.
There is no backwards compatibility for PSN at all, as far as I am aware. All of my PS3 purchases are gone now that Sony no longer manufacture PS3 hardware.
gallery-1462115295-obama-mic-drop.gif
 

Foffy

Banned
It's a 2d 16 bit 100-200 mb game. What would make the console version shitty?

They could probably port this to phones and we'd see no performance drops.

The game has performance dips on Switch...

Granted, it's the special stages, but it does indeed drop on super minor occasions.
 

TP

Member
The ability to still play the game 5-10 years from now, without being sold it again. (at least now that it's cracked)
Not having to rely on other companies actively supporting their old products in order to play them on current hardware
or fear that support will be removed with system updates.
The ability to mod the game.
To play multiplayer without squashing the image or on a rotated display.
To play at higher resolutions without blurring or lag from upscaling.
To use any controller that you want - like an original Genesis or Saturn gamepad.

Any of my digital Xbox purchases - whether games or DLC - are completely lost now. There is no way to retrieve them if I buy an Xbox One today.
Even if I still have the discs, I can't play my Xbox games today.
There is limited 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One, so I would only be able to play some of my previously purchased games. Many XBLA games like Rez HD are unsupported.
There is no backwards compatibility for PSN at all, as far as I am aware. All of my PS3 purchases are gone now that Sony no longer manufacture PS3 hardware.


I guess you don't play many old games on PC then, or are oblivious to games which previously had DRM and are only working today due to its removal - whether by the publisher/developer (rare) or via cracks.

Absolutely, i've lost count of how many times i've bought Sonic 2/3&K over the years. I'm not trying to do that again with Sonic Mania or any other game.
 

Earth

Banned
How many units did you think Sonic was going to sell on pc?

To add to what Berordn said, even Sonic CD 2011 managed to break around 350k at the peak of it's popularity.

Mania isn't (or atleast wasn't before Denuvo was implemented, if Taxman's comments from months ago was to be believed) a resource intensive game, it doesn't need much storage space and it's decently priced for most folks - it should have been a no-brainer for SEGA if they hadn't fucked up.

To kind of reiterate; even if it wasn't going sell so well, I doubt domino effect of being delayed for 2 weeks (4 days before its intended release), SEGA not disclosing Denuvo during the preorder period at all (they only addressed it about 3-5 hours after release), the whole fuckery regarding the Sonic 1 gift preventing refunds on Steam, the general problems Denuvo caused for some users or Denuvo's infamy in general that culminated in the game being review bombed has helped SEGA very much in that regard.
 
Lol, shits been cracked. Another one bites the dust.

And that means what? That the DRM is still there and only those who are keen to installing the cracks will benefit. THose who don't know about the cracks or don't want to install them are still at the mercy of Sega and Denuvo.
 

Ravidrath

Member
And that means what? That the DRM is still there and only those who are keen to installing the cracks will benefit. THose who don't know about the cracks or don't want to install them are still at the mercy of Sega and Denuvo.

Typically when Denuvo is cracked, publishers patch it out of the game so they can get their money back.

Sega likely wants that money, so it's probably only a matter of time.
 

Guess Who

Banned
As a legitimate customer, the problem with having to crack the game myself is that I then miss out on stuff like leaderboards, Steam Cloud save support, achievements, cards, etc. None of the Steam integration works if you install the crack. All the more reason Sega should remove Denuvo directly.
 

c0Zm1c

Member
Typically when Denuvo is cracked, publishers patch it out of the game so they can get their money back.

Sega likely wants that money, so it's probably only a matter of time.

Unfortunately, its removal doesn't appear to be typical; a lot of games that have been cracked still use it.
 
Typically when Denuvo is cracked, publishers patch it out of the game so they can get their money back.

Sega likely wants that money, so it's probably only a matter of time.

"Typically" it putting it too brightly. Most of the games that have been cracked while implementing Denuvo never removed it.

DOOM, RiME, Inside, Titanfall 2, Hitman, and Mass Effect Andromeda. Those are the major games that removed Denuvo after it was cracked.

That is out of +50 games that incorporated Denuvo.
Hell, there have been cases where publishes upgraded to more recent Denuvo iterations after the previous ones were cracked
 

MUnited83

For you.
Typically when Denuvo is cracked, publishers patch it out of the game so they can get their money back.

Sega likely wants that money, so it's probably only a matter of time.
What money back? Denuvo does not offer refunds.
Most publishers don't patch it out either. The ones who did are in the minority.
 

Sentenza

Member
You realise how many games are sold within the first few weeks of launch right? That is what they are trying to protect with Denuvo.
Which COULD pass as a sound argument if any of the games protected by Denuvo distinguished themselves as positive outliers in terms of sales.
Too bad that never seems to happen. They generally perform on the average of their genre/budget/target audience and occasionally even under-perform (not saying BECAUSE of Denuvo, but still interesting to note).

Also, the games being cracked or not seems to hardly ever effect the "curve" of how sales go.
Doom kept selling the same average of copies daily and even experienced a small surge (probably more related to the recent update at the time) in the following days to when the game was cracked.

This should be the big elephant in the room to address in any attempt to argue that "DRM are necessary to keep the market alive".
 

Ravidrath

Member
What money back? Denuvo does not offer refunds.
Most publishers don't patch it out either. The ones who did are in the minority.

I've never used Denuvo (nor do I intend to), but I've been told that publishers get their money back if it's cracked and you patch it out. Maybe I was misinformed? But the whole thing was that it was supposed to be uncrackable.

So if that's true and publishers aren't patching it out, then they must feel that the annoyance of cracking it is at least enough of a hindrance to keep it in place?
 

Sentenza

Member
I've never used Denuvo (nor do I intend to), but I've been told that publishers get their money back if it's cracked and you patch it out.
That was a rumor, dismissed by Denuvo people themselves, who claimed they don't guarantee any sort of "uncrackable" protection and don't offer refunds if the product gets cracked.
No developer ever commented on that.

Of course they could be lying and it wouldn't be the first time, really.
Remember when they spent months claiming their product wasn't a DRM but a "anti tamper solution" (meaning: making a bollocks fictional distinction)?
 
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