Denuvo's product manager, Andreas Ullmann, recently defended the company's anti-piracy software, Denuvo, against persistent criticism from the gaming community. Ullmann characterized the community's response as "very toxic," attributing much of the negative feedback, particularly concerning performance issues, to misinformation and confirmation bias.

Denuvo's anti-tamper DRM is widely used by major publishers to protect new game releases from piracy, with recent titles like Final Fantasy 16 employing the technology. However, gamers frequently claim Denuvo negatively impacts game performance, often citing anecdotal evidence or unverified benchmarks. Ullmann countered these claims, stating that cracked game versions, despite removing the overt DRM, still contain Denuvo's code, and often additional code layered on top, leading to potentially worse performance than the original, uncracked version. He acknowledged that there are instances, such as with Tekken 7, where performance issues were demonstrably linked to Denuvo, but maintained that the majority of complaints are unfounded. This contradicts the company's own FAQ, which claims Denuvo has no perceptible impact on performance.

Ullmann also addressed Denuvo's negative reputation and the short-lived attempt to engage the community through a Discord server. The server, intended as a platform for open communication, was quickly overwhelmed by negative feedback and meme-based criticism, forcing Denuvo to temporarily shut down the main chat. Despite this setback, Ullmann remains committed to improving communication with gamers, planning to expand their outreach to platforms like Reddit and Steam forums. He argues that while the immediate benefits of DRM may not be apparent to players, the long-term advantages for developers, including increased revenue and extended game support, ultimately benefit the gaming community as a whole. Whether this increased transparency will change gamer perception remains to be seen, but Denuvo's efforts suggest a desire for a more constructive dialogue.