Payday 3 will be using Denuvo.
SteamDB has a record of when Starbreeze Studios an Overkill Software added the notification of using Denuvo, but there’s no need to go to a third party data scraper.
The Steam page itself openly and freely confirms that Payday 3 will have Denuvo anti-tampering, as well as Starbreeze Nebula.
Starbreeze had previously revealed plans for Starbreeze Nebula in a development diary. This is an account system that will be managed by Starbreeze themselves. Starbreeze Nebula will allow the studio to keep records of all gameplay, records, items, weapons, etc, that Payday 3 players, separate from the physical consoles, as well as from each platform holder.
To put it simply, Starbreeze has pitched Nebula as their solution for moving across future and upcoming game consoles. Starbreeze learned a hard lesson that fans expect them to do this data collection when Payday 2 moved between console generations. It’s a move that shows they have learned, but may have earned them some controversy.
Starbreeze had also already courted some controversy by revealing that Payday 3 will have to be always online. This means that there will be no way for players to play Payday 3 if they go offline, but maybe that’s really a non-issue after all.
In spite of the stigma associated with the words “always online”, the truth is, Payday 3 is an online multiplayer co-op shooter. There isn’t really a point for an offline experience as the story campaign is tied in to that online multiplayer.
Payday 2 did allow players to play through heists with bots, but Starbreeze deliberately limited bots’ AI intelligence. This makes Payday 2 considerably harder, and probably less fun, if you play it alone.
Payday 3 will also allow you to play on single player, but Starbreeze hasn’t shared if they have upgraded bot AI so that your AI teammates will be as good as human players.
For what its worth, Starbreeze’s stated reason for having always online on Payday 3 is to work with their cross progression, cross save systems, which is, of course, what Nebula is.
In any case, Denuvo is likely a similar situation. Even if hackers find a way to modify Payday 3 to play offline with no DRM, those players won’t really be playing Payday 3. In fact, that Payday 3 experience will probably be inferior, unless those hackers also put the work in to improve bot AI at the level where they aren’t useless, and also won’t play the game for you.
Payday 3 will be releasing on September 21, 2023, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows on Steam and Epic Games Store.
