Denuvo in 2026: Cracked games, removals and FPS data

Updated 26 October 2026: rewritten around Denuvo in October 2026: the dated removals from July to October, the Steam change for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Irdeto’s legal action against crackers and what the Doom retest showed about performance.

Denuvo is still in new PC games in October 2026, and publishers keep removing it from older ones. Since a hypervisor-based bypass went public in December 2025, the protection on some large releases lasted hours where it used to last months. Publishers removed Denuvo from Doom: The Dark Ages and 007 First Light in July 2026, from Atomic Heart in August and from Dragon’s Dogma 2 in early September. In October, the Steam entry of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis dropped Denuvo four months before its 12 February 2027 launch. Square Enix lists Denuvo for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, due in April 2027.

What is Denuvo and what does it do on your PC?

Denuvo Anti-Tamper is a protection layer that Irdeto wraps around a game’s executable. It encrypts and virtualises parts of the code, checks the runtime environment for tampering and ties a copy to your hardware through an online activation. It runs in user space and installs no kernel driver.

Irdeto’s Anti-Tamper product page describes code encryption, obfuscation and virtualisation with active checks that respond to code or memory manipulation. Activation is capped at five machines per licence in any 24-hour window, with a cooldown on each slot. Denuvo Anti-Cheat is Irdeto’s anti-cheat product and adds no anti-piracy layer.

How does the hypervisor bypass work?

The bypass leaves the game largely untouched. It runs a custom hypervisor underneath Windows, at Ring -1, and answers Denuvo’s integrity checks from below with fabricated data. To load that layer, the user has to switch off the Windows protections that exist to stop this kind of code: Hyper-V protections, the block on unsigned code at Ring -1 and, in early builds, Secure Boot. The first public demonstration was on Persona 5 Royal in December 2025. A Linux variant from July 2026 moved much of the work into user space through a modified Proton build.

Cracked games in 2026: Which titles fell and how fast

Protection windows collapsed unevenly. Resident Evil: Requiem and Crimson Desert were bypassed within hours of release, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection took days, Doom: The Dark Ages fell in March 2026, and 007 First Light held until June. Any list of cracked games is a snapshot, because publishers ship new builds and Irdeto ships new protection versions.

Irdeto also went to court. In October 2026 TechSpot reported that Irdeto is taking legal action against the cracker known as Voices38 and was reportedly granted a court order to subpoena Discord, Reddit and Steam.

Which publishers removed Denuvo in 2026?

July 2026: Bethesda removed it from Doom: The Dark Ages; IO Interactive removed it from 007 First Light with Title Update 1.1.0.
August 2026: Focus Entertainment removed it from Atomic Heart, three years after launch.
Early September 2026: Capcom shipped patch 3.2 for Dragon’s Dogma 2, dropped Denuvo and lowered the published system requirements to a GTX 1660 with a Ryzen 5 3500 for about 45 FPS at 1080p with upscaling.
October 2026: the Steam entry of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis stopped listing Denuvo before release. TechSpot notes that this can change again before 12 February 2027.

Some new games still use it. Square Enix confirmed Denuvo for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, and its Steam entry lists Denuvo Anti-tamper and an 8 April 2027 release. The earlier games of that trilogy reached PC a year after console and shipped without it; day-and-date releases are where publishers still use it.

Do cracks and Denuvo removal improve FPS?

Not reliably. After the July 2026 removal from Doom: The Dark Ages, a retest at 2160p with path tracing on an RTX 5090 measured the same 30 FPS average in both builds, and the 1% low fell from 27 to 24 frames. Load times show a clearer cost: in a widely cited 2023 test, Ghostwire Tokyo started in 54 seconds without Denuvo and in about 200 seconds with it, while frame rates moved very little across six games. Irdeto says its rebuilt version will need no Ring -1 access and will not affect performance; that is a claim until someone benchmarks it.

How to check a game for Denuvo before you buy

Steam store page of Final Fantasy VII Revelation with the notice Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Anti-tamper next to the edition prices — The DRM notice on the Steam page of Final Fantasy VII Revelation. Source: Steam, 26 October 2026.

The Steam store page names third-party DRM in the block above the system requirements, usually as “Denuvo Anti-tamper”, together with any activation limit. The block can change after release in either direction. For history, PCGamingWiki tracks DRM per game, including which titles had it removed and in which patch.

What a cracked copy costs you

A bypassed copy is frozen: no cloud saves, no achievements, no automatic patches, no multiplayer and no refund window. The hypervisor route adds a machine-level risk, because it asks you to switch off the driver and boot protections that keep hostile code out of the kernel. PCWorld noted that some crack authors refuse to use the technique for that reason.

What changes next: Driver trust and 14-day checks

Microsoft’s April 2026 Windows update removed default trust for kernel drivers signed under the old cross-signed root program on Windows 11 24H2, 25H2 and 26H1 and Windows Server 2025, in a staged rollout that runs in evaluation mode first. Separately, VGC reported in April that NBA 2K25, NBA 2K26 and Marvel’s Midnight Suns gained a 14-day online authorisation token; neither 2K nor Denuvo has confirmed it. If it holds, it matters to anyone who plays offline or on a handheld.

Frequently asked questions

Is Denuvo still used in new games?

Yes. Square Enix lists Denuvo for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, due on 8 April 2027, and new day-and-date releases still use it, while several 2026 games dropped it after launch.

Does removing Denuvo increase FPS?

Not reliably. The Doom: The Dark Ages retest after the July 2026 removal measured the same 30 FPS average, with slightly lower minimums. The clearer, repeatable cost is longer start-up and load times.

How do I know if a game has Denuvo?

Read the third-party DRM block above the system requirements on the Steam store page. It names Denuvo Anti-tamper and any activation limit, and it can change after release.

Is the hypervisor bypass safe?

It carries real risk. The method needs you to switch off Windows protections, often including Secure Boot, that keep untrusted code out of the kernel.

Sources

Prepared by the GamerMarkt editorial team, with some help from AI tools; some images may be AI-generated.