DOOM Eternal recently saw an update on PC. Which added Denuvo Anti-Cheat to the game. id’s intentions were to protect players from cheaters efficiently. But they did so in a way that could potentially harm them.
Denuvo Anti-Cheat is in fact a rootkit that gets access to the kernel level of your system. Which means it has maximum access to your entire system. This could potentially result in system instability. Or even ruining your system permanently.
Players were furious, to say the least. The game was promptly review bombed on Steam by angry customers. And rightfully so. As neither id nor Bethesda gave ANY warning of this addition beforehand.
Denuvo themselves denied any allegations that their software was harmful. Despite plenty of evidence of the contrary. Giving any software kernel access is not good, regardless of the intentions.
Id Software Has Been Listening
The feedback was heard loud and clear by id Software. As DOOM Eternal Executive Producer Marty Stratton shared a post on Reddit, addressing the concerns regarding the Denuvo Anti-Cheat.
In this post, id states loud and clear that they plan to remove DAC from the game entirely. They also hope to at least make it optional.
This means players who only want the campaign won’t be affected. And not all campaign players are interested in the upcoming invasion mode either.
Performance Drop Unrelated To Anti-Cheat
Stratton also stressed how the performance drop was unrelated. In fact, the performance issues were more likely connected to skins and memory leaks. The upcoming update will address these issues.
It seems DOOM Eternal can be restored to its former glory. Of course, this makes us a bit uncertain about what kind of technology they plan to add in the future. But we remain hopeful they will be more transparent about it.
If you wish to check out the game, make sure to read our Doom Eternal Review. Let us know what you thought about this whole controversy in the comment section below. All views are welcome.