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Payday 3 drops Denuvo days before launch

PC players wary of Denuvo won't have to worry about it ruining their heist plans.

Donovan Erskine

September 18, 2023 9:30 AM

Deep Silver

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With how vast the world of PC gaming can be, players are often cautious about what they install on their systems. Denuvo has been a controversial piece of software for years, as the anti-mod program is often seen as a hindrance to performance at best, and a privacy risk at worst. The highly-anticipated sequel Payday 3 was set to use Denuvo for its PC version, but it is changing course just days before release.

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze Studios announced the decision in a tweet on Friday. “Hello heisters, We want to inform you that Denuvo is no longer in Payday 3. We look forward to seeing you in New York City! Happy heisting!” The studio didn’t provide a reason behind the decision, but it’s likely that feedback from fans was a driving factor. Fans previously discovered that Payday 3 was using Denuvo through its Steam page listing and expressed their disapproval online.

The announcement was met with a positive response from fans on social media. Denuvo is an anti-cheat software, implemented by developers to prevent users from tampering with a game’s code. While anti-cheat software is pretty common among PC games, Denuvo in particular has a pretty rough reputation among gamers. This is primarily due to the fact that the software uses a computer’s kernel-level drivers, which could pose a serious security risk if obtained by the wrong hands.

Even for those not paranoid about security, many have attributed reduced game performance to Denuvo software. Most recently, Tekken fans got riled up about the prospect of Tekken 8 using Denuvo before Katsuhiro Harada himself had to tell them to calm down.

The announcement comes at the last minute, as Payday 3 will be released this week on September 21. Regardless, PC players can breathe a sigh of relief as they jump in to rob banks with their friends. For more Payday 3 news, Shacknews has the information you need.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_