Tequila Softworks got called out on the Steam forums for the use of Denuvo anti-tamper DRM. The developers responded by making a post and sticking it on the discussion titled “Denuvo Anti-Tamper”.

One of the developers, going by the handle Dariuas, explained that the Denuvo software is tied to the “sights” and “sounds” of RiME and that if the game is cracked it runs the risk of affecting the performance. They do note that if the game is cracked they’ll remove the Denuvo, saying…

“When a game is cracked, it runs the risk of creating issues with both of those items, and we want to do everything we can to preserve this quality in RiME.

“We are very committed to this, but also to the simple fact that nothing is infallible. That being said, if RIME is cracked we will release a Denuvo free version of RiME and update existing platforms.“

The response was mostly negative from the community. Most people asked how exactly Denuvo was tied to the “sight” and “sound” of RiME? Especially since there have been numerous reports from professional reviews saying that the game’s performance on PC has inconsistent drops and stuttering.

Dariuas doesn’t explain how the Denuvo affects the performance, but instead says that complaints about Denuvo being DRM isn’t correct because Denuvo isn’t DRM…

“While you don’t have to agree with what I am saying, lets try to remain civil please? We made the decision to use Denuvo to protect the game getting pirated. That is the simple fact of it. Denuvo is not DRM, it is anti tamper software.

“As I mentioned in the above post, if RiME gets cracked, we plan to update the versions across all platforms with the Denuvo free version of the game.”

This perturbed some users and made others laugh. One user linked to Denuvo’s official website where they do explain that it’s not in itself a DRM solution but rather a digital rights measure to protect DRM solutions. The website states…

“Denuvo Anti-Tamper technology prevents the debugging, reverse engineering and changing of executable files to strengthen the security of games. It is not a DRM solution, but rather, Denuvo Anti-tamper protects DRM solutions, such as Origin Online Access or the Steam license management system, from being circumvented.”

The Denuvo website goes on to further explain that it doesn’t assign game installations to single-user keys or restrict access to user accounts, but instead protects DRM measures that do utilize those means. The site states…

“Anti-Tamper stops the reverse engineering and debugging of the DRM solution, but has no effect or limitation on the legitimate consumer. Anti-Tamper is completely transparent to legitimate game buyers and does not in any way impose activation limits, install drivers, or require a gamer to be “always on.””

Regardless of the pedantry revolving around the use of “digital rights management”, a lot of people were still annoyed at the involvement of Denuvo for such a small indie title.

As one user pointed out, going by the handle of raythr, you’ll lose more than gain trying to defend services like Denuvo or attempting to trick customers, writing…

“[…] a general good advice is “dont make yourself enemies, when its not needed at all [sic] i can assure everyone in this thread that indie games dont need “anti temper software”

“the amount of customers youll lose, bad rep you acquire and cost of the actual product outweights the anticipated gains by far”

Tequila closed the thread thereafter and rolled out a new video featuring Lindsay Sterling.