Denuvo is a notorious DRM solution that is utilized by many developers on PC. This is mostly used to make sure that the game isn’t pirated straight after launch but it also has some other potential negative effects with the lack of mod-support and performance issues where DRM has been cited as the main cause.

Shenmue I & II will also launch with Denuvo DRM, however, a recent change as discovered on the Steam Database suggests that the DRM was removed just a week before it officially launches. The official Steam page also doesn’t seem to list any Denuvo warning on its page.

This doesn’t imply that the DRM solution is removed permanently since it can be an update to the Denuvo implementation just in time for the launch of the game, however, it is still interesting to see the DRM was removed since Sega faced some backlash over it once this was discovered by fans.

Shenmue I & II are pretty old games by now so using DRM on them doesn’t make much sense for Sega. If they do stick with the removal of Denuvo, it might help with the sales of the game by bringing back those who despite such practice.

Shenmue I & II will be out on August 21st for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It is a simple collection of the first 2 Shenmue games that is launching ahead of Shenmue 3.