Funcom accidentally removed the Denuvo copy protection from Conan Exiles, opening up treasure chests for pirates.
As reported by Eurogamer, the Denuvo Anti-Tamper copy protection was supposed to ensure that Conan Exiles could not be easily cracked and pirated.
However, due to an error in the build process, the copy protection was temporarily removed. Thus, “pirates” had an easy time grabbing the unprotected version of Conan Exiles and spreading a DRM-free torrent.
Funcom is quite disheartened. While barbarians are no issue, pirates are not well-received. Even though they quickly reactivated Denuvo in a later patch, the damage has already been done.
Funcom reluctantly states: Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done if people download and play an unauthorized copy. They hope that it will lead them to the official version, which continues to receive updates, patches, and improvements.
Funcom’s hope seems to be: A cracked version cannot be updated. But patches are essential for an early access title. Ironically, the “raw state” of Conan Exiles could be a good thing for Funcom. If the pirates get a taste for Conan through the pirated version, but quickly lose interest in the raw version and crave an improved version instead.
More news from Funcom came yesterday when they shut down the official servers:
Conan Exiles shuts down official servers – “Too poor quality”
