In the latest updates made to the PC version of Shenmue I & II, some Steam forum users have found that one of the entries on August 14 notes the removal of the controversial DRM Denuvo (for what it’s worth, the company itself claims it’s not actually DRM, but that’s a different debate altogether). The game’s Steam page also no longer lists the Denuvo implementation. It’s not clear if this is a permanent change, and so far it only seems to apply to Shenmue I & II specifically, as other upcoming SEGA PC games such as Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Yakuza Kiwami continue to use the DRM.
Despite the complaints regarding their use of Denuvo, SEGA has denied that the DRM has negative impact on performance, as listed in their FAQ:
The FPS is unaffected by Denuvo. During development care is taken to ensure the performance impact is minimised and optimised to keep the game running smoothly.
Nonetheless, at one point Tekken 7’s director Katsuhiro Harada blamed Denuvo for the game’s performance problems, showing that the concern regarding Denuvo impacting performance isn’t without merit.
Perhaps SEGA had trouble integrating the DRM into the game and decided to (temporarily?) remove Denuvo rather than delay the game’s release. Regardless, for the moment this does appear to be an exception, and there’s no sign of SEGA abandoning the DRM entirely. Shenmue I & II is scheduled to be released on August 21 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Lol Harada, it’s like people blaming it on denuvo instead of the game itself or (maybe) their PC.
If they have removed it I doubt they are putting it back, once the crack is done it is done, and I don’t expect content updates for it. They are provably not expecting much sales or they don’t really care, the game is overpriced enough they will provably make due just by selling to the fans.
It’s funny how people get upset about drm in a drm platform like steam.