There’s a prevailing opinion that Denuvo is being beaten into submission. That the high profile cracks will see publishers just suddenly abandon ship and give away their $100 million projects without any protection whatsoever, safe in the knowledge that all gamers are just honest folks that want to know if a game runs well first before they buy it.

Now that sounds a little spiky from me, and in truth, the figures are difficult to come by. None of us really know the definitive effect that both piracy and DRM measures have on game sales. We don’t have access to the same sort of comprehensive sales data the publishers do, and ultimately there’s no feasible way to test whether something like The Witcher 3 would have sold greater or fewer copies if it was protected by anti-piracy measures, no matter how good the game was. Ultimately it’s all conjecture, and the much-used example of CD Projekt Red can be used to fuel both sides of the argument.

Typically the bigger publishers are loathe to talk about piracy, for fear of letting it be known their games are easily and freely available from a range of torrent networks. Occasionally they do open up though, and the figures can be eye-opening. “On PC it's only around five to seven percent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it's only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated,” said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, back in 2012. “It's around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage. The revenue we get from the people who play is more long term, so we can continue to bring content." The main gripe here is that this statement is five years old, and lots can change in five years. For starters, Denuvo didn’t exist back in 2012.

So with Denuvo being very much ‘a thing’ now, I thought it could be interesting to get a handle on just how popular it is among publishers these days. The first ever Denuvo protected title graced our digital storefronts on September 9th, 2014. It was none other than FIFA 15; since cracked. Since that fateful date, a grand total of 68 Denuvo supported games have released. However, with the recent spate of cracks, is the use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM on the decline, or has it spurred more publishers than ever to tighten up restrictions. Let’s take a look.

Year Number of Denuvo Protected Titles Release Cadence 2014 3 One game every four months 2015 6 One game every two months 2016 42 One game ever 8.7 days 2017 YTD 17 One game every 7 days

Well, the numbers paint their own story. 2015 was a slow year for Denuvo, with just six using the service. They were all AAA heavyweights as well, including Star Wars Battlefront, MGS V, FIFA 16 and Just Cause 3. This is a case of big publishers trying to protect their big games.

Jump forward a year and the difference is huge. A staggering 42 games were protected by Denuvo in 2016, a staggering 7-fold increase. Crackers had a real tough time busting open some of 2015’s games, reflected in a huge number of publishers adopting the service. It no longer becomes the domain of the big budget publishers either, the likes of High Voltage Software, Aerosoft, 505 Games, Bigben Interactive and Microids all join in the fun. In 2016, life for Denuvo had never been better.

Lastly, for the folks hoping Denuvo is dying a quick death, look away now. Through 2017, the use of Denuvo has been more popular than ever. Now there is an average of one game every week using Denuvo, and if previous years have taught us anything then we can expect a sharper price during the back half of 2017.

Of course, these figures neglect to take into account the impact of the high-profile cracks taking place in early 2017. There is every chance publishers opt for a different solution when they see the likes of Resident Evil 7 and Mass Effect Andromeda cracked within a matter of days, let alone weeks or months.

We’ll be sure to keep an eye on how the situation progresses, but the data suggest Denuvo isn’t going anywhere soon just yet. Publishers are always going to resist releasing their games DRM free, so it’s only a matter of time until Denuvo becomes stronger or a better solution from an alternate company comes along.

What's your take on this, is Denuvo fighting a losing battle? Or will DRM-free win through in the end? Is it realistic to expect publishers to release a product which cost $300m with zero protection? Let us know your thoughts!