Regular readers know the name Denuvo as a once-impenetrable and now-quite-penetrable anti-piracy solution for PC games. Today, though, Denuvo parent company Irdeto announced that Denuvo technology is available to PS5 developers looking for an easy anti-cheat solution for their games.
Console gaming’s closed ecosystem is generally less susceptible to the kinds of memory modifications and/or third-party cheating apps that can lead to widespread cheating in many online PC games. And while modern consoles like the Switch have seen widespread hardware hacking that makes game modding relatively simple, the PS5’s ecosystem has thus far been resilient to any widely known external attacks (though hackers are already working on breaking in).
Still, Denuvo says its PS5 middleware helps developers “protect sensitive game logic or data, preventing cheaters from changing sensitive variables and ensuring its trustworthiness.” That system generally works through a process of obfuscation and encryption, obscuring the true intent of the game’s internal procedures to make it harder for hackers to figure out which bits of code affect different parts of the game. Irdeto says this extra layer of security has no effect on a game’s performance, a statement supported by Ars’ own testing of Denuvo-enabled and Denuvo-free versions of Arkham Knight on PC back in 2019.