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Denuvo by Irdeto launches the industry’s first Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection​

AMSTERDAM, August 24, 2022 – Denuvo by Irdeto, the global leader in providing security solutions for video games on desktop, console, and mobile platforms, is pleased to unveil a revolutionary technology to protect games launching on Nintendo Switch from piracy. The announcement comes as the video gaming industry is gathered for this year’s Gamescom, currently taking place in Cologne, Germany.

Nintendo consoles have long suffered from piracy issues and the Switch is no different. Even if a game is protected against piracy on its PC version, the released version on Switch can be emulated from day one and played on PC, therefore bypassing the strong protections offered on the PC version. This can happen with any of the numerous games available on Switch.

By preventing piracy on Switch while blocking unauthorized emulations on PC, studios are able to increase their revenue during the game launch window, which is the most important period in regard to monetization. The Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure that anyone wishing to play the game has to buy a legitimate copy.

As with all other Denuvo solutions, the technology integrates seamlessly into the build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience. It then allows for the insertion of checks into the code, which blocks gameplay on emulators.

“We at Denuvo understand that piracy negatively affects the gaming industry and are working with the industry parties to ensure they have the latest protection technologies available for them. Our team is excited to provide a solution that helps the developers and publishers to help fight the issue of Nintendo Switch piracy,” said Reinhard Blaukovitsch, Managing Director at Denuvo by Irdeto.

Even though it is hard to pinpoint the exact number of players who emulate Switch games on PC, it is easy to find online forums dedicated to emulation and piracy. The most popular groups have more than one million followers each. Recent research conducted by Irdeto in collaboration with Omdia found that 84% of game developers are continuously concerned about tampering and piracy. The study also found that 93% of those using anti-cheat and anti-tamper solutions are satisfied with the protection and value brought by game protection technologies.

Denuvo by Irdeto launches the industry’s first Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection

The innovative solution solves a long-lasting issue of emulating pirate Nintendo Switch games on PC, addressing the widespread piracy on multiplatform releases.

irdeto.com

 

[Ezquimacore]

Yuzu developers:

 

[Melter]

Great, now the switch which is already starved for performance is going to have games running Denuvo anti piracy code

 

[hemo memo]

By preventing piracy on Switch while blocking unauthorized emulations on PC, studios are able to increase their revenue during the game launch window

Haven’t we discussed this a 100 times? That Piracy =/= Sales

 

[8BiTw0LF]

 

[Skifi28]

Great, now the switch which is already starved for performance is going to have games running Denuvo anti piracy code

Denuvo is always like an advertisement for piracy and now emulation.

"we've ruined the legal copies of the game, better find another way to play it properly"

 

[wvnative]

I give it two days

 

[IFireflyl]

As someone who rips their games to play them on PC (or even on the Switch using an external SSD) this really irks me. Nintendo's sales are not lacking. That they are doing this shows how greedy and petty they really are.

 

[Fuz]

 

[hlm666]

Great, now the switch which is already starved for performance is going to have games running Denuvo anti piracy code

It's mental, they are trying to sell their shit to switch devs now because of all those pc pirates, insane but some wankers in the managment positions will buy their horse shit and once again the paying user will be the one effected most.

 

[CherryFalls]

Good news. You should buy a switch if you want to play switch games

 

[amigastar]

Nooo, i love emulation

 

[Ezquimacore]

Good news. You should buy a switch if you wat to play switch games

But there are millions of switch owners pirating Nintendo games, that console has been so easy to pirate that people are able to overclock the system and play games with better performance than people without modded hardware.

 

[Skifi28]

Good news. You should buy a switch if you wat to play switch games

With games running denuvo, I'd rather sell mine.

 

[Jennings]

As someone who rips their games to play them on PC (or even on the Switch using an external SSD) this really irks me. Nintendo's sales are not lacking. That they are doing this shows how greedy and petty they really are.

Nintendo hasn't done anything. This is an Irdeto/Denuvo product.

 

[GymWolf]

 

[LazyParrot]

"Even if a game is protected against piracy on its PC version, the released version on Switch can be emulated from day one and played on PC, therefore bypassing the strong protections offered on the PC version."

Talk about solving a problem that doesn't exist, lol. Who the hell emulates Switch games because of the DRM on the PC version?

 

[Skifi28]

Talk about solving a problem that doesn't exist, lol. Who the hell emulates Switch games because of the DRM on the PC version?

I'm sure there's at least 10 people.

 

[nominedomine]

Haven’t we discussed this a 100 times? That Piracy =/= Sales

This talk isn't going to fool anybody, obviously piracy comes at the cost of some sales.

Denuvo is always like an advertisement for piracy and now emulation.

"we've ruined the legal copies of the game, better find another way to play it properly"

Again, the only real problem people have with Denuvo is that is actually works to stop piracy (at least for some time), pirates get mad at it and come up with a bunch excuses of why it's not fair.

 

[Holammer]

Egad! Foiled by Denovo, guess I'll buy a Switch then!

 

[Skifi28]

Again, the only real problem people have with Denuvo is that is actually works to stop piracy (at least for some time).

The only real problem people have is crap performance on good hardware and huge stutters on their legal copies. See RE8 for a recent case we all loved.



Plus there's no gurantee that once it gets cracked in like a week developers will fix the legal copy, you are often stuck with crap performance forever. It's a situation where only the legal buyers lose, pirates are the least affected and it encourages more people to go for the better version of the game. And that's running on monster PCs, now imagine on switch....Jesus.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Isn emulation legal?

 

[nominedomine]

"Even if a game is protected against piracy on its PC version, the released version on Switch can be emulated from day one and played on PC, therefore bypassing the strong protections offered on the PC version."

Talk about solving a problem that doesn't exist, lol. Who the hell emulates Switch games because of the DRM on the PC version?

Pirates.

Isn emulation legal?

Blocking it is also legal.

 

[Ezquimacore]

This talk isn't going to fool anybody, obviously piracy comes at the cost of some sales.


Again, the only real problem people have with Denuvo is that is actually works to stop piracy (at least for some time), pirates get mad at it and come up with a bunch excuses of why it's not fair.

Denuvo actually destroy performance, especially on Ubisoft games.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Pirates.


Blocking it is also legal.

I did not know that. Seems kind of dodgey

 

[Kokoloko85]

Isn emulation legal?

Edit

 

[Spukc]

I pirate the games i buy on switch because playing on pc actually gives me a better version. How is nintendo so fucking backwards in 2022? Playing metroid dread on pc is better.. this is just fucking stupid.. port the fucking games to pc 2 years later like sony does..
print money

 

[Guilty_AI]

This talk isn't going to fool anybody, obviously piracy comes at the cost of some sales.


Again, the only real problem people have with Denuvo is that is actually works to stop piracy (at least for some time), pirates get mad at it and come up with a bunch excuses of why it's not fair.

found the denuvo employee

 

[brian0057]

By preventing piracy on Switch while blocking unauthorized emulations on PC, studios are able to increase their revenue during the game launch window, which is the most important period in regard to monetization.

Those that pirate software never intended to buy it in the first place.
And those that do pirate as a demo before purchase are in the minority.

 

[nominedomine]

Those that pirate software never intended to buy it in the first place.
And those that do pirate as a demo before purchase are in the minority.

The assumption that a bunch of people aren't just pirating because they can and would otherwise consider buying if they had no option is absurd. What do people do with online games that can't easily be pirated? They buy them.

 

[Holammer]

I pirate the games i buy on switch because playing on pc actually gives me a better version. How is nintendo so fucking backwards in 2022? Playing metroid dread on pc is better.. this is just fucking stupid.. port the fucking games to pc 2 years later like sony does..
print money

Considering how mature Switch emulation is, it's the premier way of playing the games too, with the 60fps patches & 4k+.
Recent Kirby games are striking examples of this.

 

[Punished Miku]

Haven’t we discussed this a 100 times? That Piracy =/= Sales

In the case of Switch, this is complete bullshit. I hope they succeed in slowing down Switch piracy, which is absolutely rampant and does affect sales. But I have no real belief that they will obviously.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

But there are millions of switch owners pirating Nintendo games, that console has been so easy to pirate that people are able to overclock the system and play games with better performance than people without modded hardware.

-edit- quoted the wrong one, sorry!

 

[Stuart360]

The assumption that a bunch of people aren't just pirating because they can and would otherwise consider buying if they had no option is absurd. What do people do with online games that can't easily be pirated? They buy them.

Just as people buy games that are DRM freee, which is why the biggest selling games on Steam list is mostly DRM free games.
Please dont talk about somehting you are clueless on. The vast majority of pirates dont buy games, thats why they are pirates. You dont see them suddenly buying Denuvo infested games, they wait until they are cracked.

 

[Ezquimacore]

I pirate the games i buy on switch because playing on pc actually gives me a better version. How is nintendo so fucking backwards in 2022? Playing metroid dread on pc is better.. this is just fucking stupid.. port the fucking games to pc 2 years later like sony does..
print money

This is not by Nintendo, this is Denuvo trying to sell their drm to Nintendo switch developers. They don't even mention a partnership with Nintendo.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

As someone who rips their games to play them on PC (or even on the Switch using an external SSD) this really irks me. Nintendo's sales are not lacking. That they are doing this shows how greedy and petty they really are.

Soooooo you're doing something that violates every ToS there is software wise and have the audacity to complain when a company does something about it?

I can't wait till I meet a self entitled burglar who rants on the internet about companies that make decent locks which prevents him from stealing shit!!

 

[Graciaus]

Good news. You should buy a switch if you wat to play switch games

You can own a switch and still want to play the superior emulated version.

 

[nominedomine]

Just as people buy games that are DRM freee, which is why the biggest selling games on Steam list is mostly DRM free games.
Please dont talk about somehting you are clueless on. The vast majority of pirates dont buy games, thats why they are pirates. You dont see them suddenly buying Denuvo infested games, they wait until they are cracked.

You are the one who seem completely ignorant about it and in denial.

Scenario 1: cracked game - Pirate has the option between buying game and pirating.
Scenario 2: uncracked game - Pirate has the option of waiting for the game to be cracked or buying the game.

The longer the game stays uncracked the more likely it is for the pirate to just give up and buy the game instead. It doesn't mean it will happen to everyone but it will happen to many people.

The guy saying that he would've bought the game if not for Denuvo but now he is going to pirate is full of shit 100% of the time, he was going to pirate it anyway that's the only reason he cares about Denuvo in the first place. You see that people don't get mad at pretty much any other DRMs becaues most of them are cracked on release, they have issue with Denuvo because it's actually effective.

 

[Guilty_AI]

You can own a switch and still want to play the superior emulated version.

Can confirm, i have a Wii U as well as copies of BotW and Xenoblade Chronicles X available. Still used CEMU to play them.

 

[Ezquimacore]

Soooooo you're doing something that violates every ToS there is software wise and have the audacity to complain when a company does something about it?

I can't wait till I meet a self entitled burglar who rants on the internet about companies that makes decent locks!!

What are you talking about, read again. He said "if you want to play switch games buy a switch" trying to say that pirates are only on PC when there are millions of switch owners pirating games too.

 

[Filben]

I wonder how much of Nintendo's target audience is going through the hassle to emulate a game instead of buying it. Like... 0,1% estimated, if at all? And those people who already rely on emulation for piracy won't suddenly say "oooh damn, too bad, better start buying legitimate copies now!". Of those 0,1% maybe another 1%?

I mean, just go to your town and ask like 100 people if they know what software emulation is and if they know how to do that. I bet you get about 95 nos and 4 "yes, but I don't know how".

 

[Stuart360]

You are the one who seem completely ignorant about it and in denial.

No you just dont know what you're talking about, and have accepted the 'one pirate download = one lost sale' propaganda from publishrs. It doesnt work like that.

 

[deriks]

I give it two days

47h59 minutes is my bet

 

[nominedomine]

No you just dont know what you're talking about, and have accepted the 'one pirate download = one lost sale' propaganda from publishrs. It doesnt work like that.

The fact that you have to use a straw man argument makes it pretty clear who doesn't know what he is talking about.

"Given that not every pirate was going to buy the game it makes no sense to take any measures against piracy", Neogaf genius.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I wonder how much of Nintendo's target audience is going through the hassle to emulate a game instead of buying it. Like... 0,1% estimated, if at all? And those people who already rely on emulation for piracy won't suddenly say "oooh damn, too bad, better start buying legitimate copies now!". Of those 0,1% maybe another 1%?

I mean, just go to your town and ask like 100 people if they know what software emulation is and if they know how to do that. I bet you get about 95 nos and 4 "yes, but I don't know how".

Doesn't matter, they just need to scam developers into thinking they need to give money to them for a piece of bloat software.

 

[Stuart360]

The guy saying that he would've bought the game if not for Denuvo but now he is going to pirate is full of shit 100% of the time, he was going to pirate it anyway that's the only reason he cares about Denuvo in the first place. You see that people don't get mad at pretty much any other DRMs becaues most of them are cracked on release, they have issue with Denuvo because it's actually effective.

Nope i hardly ever buy a denuvo game, and many PC gamers wont on principle. Have you ever wonderd why whena publisher removes Denuvo from a game, the said game shoots up the Steam charts?.
PC gamers are not like console gamers that accept everything thrown at them, many PC gamers have principles.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The guy saying that he would've bought the game if not for Denuvo but now he is going to pirate is full of shit 100% of the time, he was going to pirate it anyway that's the only reason he cares about Denuvo in the first place. You see that people don't get mad at pretty much any other DRMs becaues most of them are cracked on release, they have issue with Denuvo because it's actually effective.

I don't pirate them, but having anti-piracy software like denuvo (or online requirements) definitely stopped me from buying many games already. Monster Hunter Rise and Souls Hackers 2 are no go from me until they either get cracked or they remove denuvo. So its 1 lost sale already.

Now find me someone who bought a game because he couldn't pirate it so we can equalize it.

 

[Spukc]

Soooooo you're doing something that violates every ToS there is software wise and have the audacity to complain when a company does something about it?

I can't wait till I meet a self entitled burglar who rants on the internet about companies that make decent locks which prevents him from stealing shit!!

I think it’s more about the lack of official pc support because some people really want a more powerful nintendo console..
pretty sure they don’t sell HD tv’s anymore.

 

[nkarafo]

"As with all other Denuvo solutions, the technology integrates seamlessly into the build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience."

 

[nominedomine]

Now find me someone who bought a game because he couldn't pirate it so we can equalize it.

As if they would admit, not to mention I have no way of knowing if you are telling the truth or just mad you couldn't pirate Monster Hunter.