Players wonder why a 6-year-old shooter relies on 3 different copy protection versions. Because in the eyes of many players, one would suffice.
Which game is it about? Far Cry 5 is a first-person shooter that was released on March 27, 2018. The story takes place in a fictional location in the USA. You shoot and fight your way through an open world and resist a radical cult that wants to prevent communication with the outside world.
Yet, although the game is now 6 years old, many players ask on reddit: Why does the game need not just one copy protection, but 3 different versions?
Far Cry 5 uses 3 DRM methods and all are controversial
Which copy protection is in use? In total, Far Cry 5 relies on 3 different types of copy protection or DRM. The reference to the various programs can be found in the Steam description on the right side. Ubisoft refers here to the security measures used. These are the following 3:
- EasyAntiCheat
- Denuvo
- VMProtect
While EasyAntiCheat is primarily used against cheaters, it is also employed by some manufacturers as a copy protection measure to prevent multiple copies of the game from being used. Denuvo and VMProtect are intended to protect the software against copying measures. However, these measures have long been under heavy criticism from players.
The unanimous, slightly sarcastic response from some players: Ubisoft does this only to annoy its players. Ubisoft had not exactly made itself popular with players in recent weeks, after deleting a game from users’ libraries.
Copy protection and anti-cheat is always a huge topic in the community
Manufacturers rely on copy protection and anti-cheat mechanisms to prevent games from being “cracked”, copied, and thus distributed for free. They aim to avoid revenue losses, prevent releases, and protect their work. From this perspective, this is also understandable.
Why is there criticism? Players are generally not thrilled about it, or rather: players do not like copy protection mechanisms in games at all. For them, the protection measures are merely tools to make things a bit harder for players. They have long criticized manufacturers for using software like Denuvo and others, as the impacts in their eyes are only negative:
- For instance, GameStar reported that Denuvo slows down the PC through numerous system queries and transfers huge amounts of data back and forth.
- In Dying Light, Denuvo caused players to suddenly be locked out of their purchased game at launch, as Denuvo only allows a certain number of game starts.
- The hint from Irdeto, the company behind Denuvo, that they wanted to bring their in-house copy protection to the Switch, also sparked little enthusiasm.
- On the Steam Deck, some games do not work because SteamOS (Linux) is unable to handle the DRM measures. Recently, Monster Hunter: Rise experienced an issue where a new copy protection caused an uproar.
In the case of Far Cry 5 mentioned here, not just one software is used, but three variants are in play. All three programs are criticized by players for weakening performance and regularly causing issues.
Are there also positive things? Some manufacturers remove specific protection mechanics from their game after some months or years. Because after 5 or 6 years, the game is financially done for the publisher anyway and piracy no longer matters for revenue. In one case, the developer accidentally removed Denuvo from their game.
