Denuvo Is On Nintendo Switch, Promising To Block Emulation Of Any Switch Games

Denuvo is now officially available on Nintendo Switch.

In a new press release, Denuvo parent company Irdeto revealed that they are now available on the Nintendo Developer Portal as authorized Nintendo Switch middleware.

Irdeto also boldly claims their technology can block emulation of Nintendo Switch games on PC. In Irdeto’s own words:

“By blocking unauthorized emulations on PC, studios are able to increase their revenue during the game launch window, which is the most important period for monetization. The Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure that anyone wishing to play the game has to buy a legitimate copy.

As with all other Denuvo solutions, the technology integrates seamlessly into the build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience. It then allows for the insertion of checks into the code, which blocks gameplay on emulators.”

Aside from their bold claims, Irdeto makes one very interesting statement here that many gamers may not understand has been key to Denuvo’s success. Denuvo doesn’t claim that their protection cannot be jailbroken, and in fact we know a few hackers who have reliably proven capable of breaking Denuvo out of PC games.

Denuvo’s selling point is that they can protect games from being emulated or pirated within the game’s launch window. As Irdeto explains, the launch window is where most of a single title’s sales will ever happen. For all intents and purposes, Denuvo would have been successful if these games don’t get jailbroken almost immediately.

As for whether Denuvo can back up their claims for Nintendo Switch games remains to be seen. If it turns out to be the case, it would be essentially a Pyrrhic victory. The Switch console itself is long overdue to be replaced, and we already expect Nintendo to announce, and even release, that Switch successor in the next two years.

We may see titles like Super Mario Wonder launch with Denuvo, but for the most part, the lion’s share of the Nintendo Switch’s library has been effectively pirated by the community already.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, the use of Denuvo may block a consumer’s use to backup their own purchases, for the purposes of their own private use. As best as I can tell from my research, some activists believe that this should be provided for in principle for video game products. However, it hasn’t been written into any law or regulation formally, and it isn’t legally enforceable, not even in the EU.

So maybe the people playing their own backups of Nintendo Switch games are in the right in principle, but they effectively are in a legal grey area, and for that matter, so would be the use of Denuvo.

In any case, we should find out soon enough if there developers that decide to embrace Nintendo Switch Denuvo, and if their technology works as well for Switch developers as it has on PC.