Bethesda has added Denuvo to Ghostwire: Tokyo, in what is set to be an unpopular, but also confusing move.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Ghostwire: Tokyo received Denuvo over a year after its initial PC release, on March 25, 2022. This also coincides with the end of the game’s PlayStation exclusivity clause, and it was just published on the Xbox Series X|S on April 12, 2023.
It really isn’t quite clear why Ghostwire: Tokyo received this Denuvo DRM. I won’t share any links here, but this game was already cracked, apparently days before its actual release. That pirated release didn’t seem to affect its commercial success, as it did sell better than any prior Tango Gameworks release at the time.
Denuvo, of course, is intended to stem any possible piracy of video games. While many gamers have long alleged that Denuvo harms performance of games when they are installed, it has continued to be used as an industry standard of sorts.
In the very recent case of Resident Evil Village, it seemed that Capcom initially released the game with Denuvo to make sure it wouldn’t suffer piracy at release. It then had Denvo removed months later, after most of its projected sales were achieved. This approach at least makes sense logically.
It might have something to do with the provisions in the original contract for Ghostwire: Tokyo with Sony. Ironically and unusually, it may have been set up in such a way that Sony didn’t want the game to have DRM on PC. Bethesda may not have wanted to do it that way all along and added it in at the earliest point that they could.
We already know that Redfall will have DRM upon launch. Agree with it or not, but at least it seems that this is a policy choice by Bethesda, and not necessarily Microsoft.
Even with the existence of the cracked version, Bethesda may want to lock down Ghostwire: Tokyo from future instances of piracy or cracking anyway. They may plan to release future DLC at some point. But even without that, if future patches and bugfixes arrive, the cracked version of the game won’t be benefiting from those changes.
So maybe there is some reason to adding the DRM measure belatedly. But people who already bought the game will definitely not be happy about this change. We will see if it does affect gameplay in this instance, and if Bethesda can be swayed to remove it again later.
