Denuvo Sues Hacker Responsible for Cracking 26 DRM Protected Games

Denuvo has decided to take legal action against an anonymous game hacker known as voices38, accusing them of circumventing the company’s anti-tamper technology across more than 26 PC games.

The Austrian anti-piracy company filed a complaint against the individual/group known as voices38 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on September 14. According to the filing, Denuvo alleges that the hacker bypassed its protection technology in at least 26 games, allowing modified versions to be distributed without the restrictions imposed by its anti-tamper system.

The games named in the complaint include Resident Evil Requiem, Black Myth: Wukong, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom: The Dark Ages, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Sonic Frontiers, Stellar Blade, 007 First Light, Pragmata, and Mafia: The Old Country. Most of these are AAA titles from the past few years, and the alleged tampering from voices38 allowed potentially millions to pirate these games.

Denuvo argues that voices38’s activity violates the anti-circumvention provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Rather than accusing the hacker of directly infringing copyrights it owns, the company’s case instead focuses on the bypassing of technological measures designed to prevent unauthorized access to protected games.

The company is seeking damages under the DMCA as well as an injunction that would prevent voices38 from circumventing Denuvo Anti-Tamper in past, current, or future games.

The reaction to Denuvo’s lawsuit has consequently focused heavily on whether the company can identify the person behind the voices38 alias. Denuvo has linked several Reddit, Discord, and Steam accounts to the defendant, potentially giving it avenues to seek identifying information through the courts. With a case on file, Denuvo can ask the court for permission to subpoena Valve, Reddit and Discord for the associated account details. There’s no discovery request in the docket yet, but that will likely follow soon.

The lawsuit also arrives during a period of renewed activity in the Denuvo cracking scene. Denuvo’s DRM had become notoriously difficult to crack, with some games remaining secure for over a year after release. However, Voice38 in the past few years has allegedly managed to target and crack recent releases, rejuvenating the piracy and anti-DRM movement online. DRM is reportedly responsible for major performance issues, according to members of these communities.

Voices38, meanwhile, has publicly indicated that the lawsuit has not changed their plans. In a message circulated after news of the case emerged, the cracker said: “All is fine. Everything will continue as normal.”