Hello, my name is Anthony. I am writing to you to hopefully change your mind about using Denuvo digital rights management. Denuvo is a very anti consumer DRM that you have been using on your games since 2015. Denuvo DRM aims to stop video game piracy and I understand that. However, Denuvo DRM has too connect online for validation and if you cannot reach the server then the costumer would not be able too play the game they bought from you. You're probably asking yourselves, "who doesn't have internet"? People that live in rural areas as well as some countries in Africa, Europe, the middle east, etc. https://websitesetup.org/news/internet-facts-stats/ 

As you can see, many people around the world don't have an active internet connection or at all making it very cumbersome for one of these people too authenticate their game to Denuvo's servers thus not being able too play their games infected with it. This is the most common complaint about Denuvo, not being able too authenticate. For some, they can HAVE internet connection and still not be able too authenticate: https://youtu.be/JmFdYavJtMk

The second reason is that Denuvo can cause various performance issues in gameplay. This is amplified if the user has an underpowered device like a laptop or a mini pc or handheld pcs like the newly released Valve Steamdeck. The youtuber Overlord Gaming has done several tests to test how Denuvo can affect performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_6zYVcJIKM&list=PLYNijcMZoiLRp697-RzKArVtTMbCryrxM

The above link takes you to a playlist of 14 videos of testing and the results are, yes, Denuvo affects performance.

The third reason is Denuvo infected games bloat the game's .exe drastically. for example, Sonic Mania after Denuvo was removed is 20 or so kilobytes. with Denuvo it was 100,000+ kb. this speaks for itself. some may not see that as a big deal but one can assume it is bloat.

The fourth and final reason is you are driving away would be consumers by including this Drm and it shows disrespect too the people who bought the game legally. I understand that you want to combat piracy but there are better ways. Bandai Namco was also using Denuvo for abit but then they stopped. This is probably due too complaints from fans or they saw that the DRM was causing more harm than good. Katsuhiro Harada, the creator of Tekken has stated openly that Denuvo did cause issues in TEKKEN 7: https://twitter.com/harada_tekken/status/984834105220055041

Bandai Namco recently removed Denuvo from Tekken 7.

In closing I just want too say that I myself have been turned off from buying your games that are protected with Denuvo and am far from the only one. Sega has stated that they would remove the DRM once the sales period has passed but there are 5 year old games like Puyo Puyo tetris 1, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Shining Resonance Refrain, etc. that are still using Denuvo that I have refused too buy.

I am hoping that SEGA and ATLUS reconsider using Denuvo DRM in the future. Maybe Sega can make their own DRM that doesn't cost game performance and doesn't require reaching out to a server but whatever you decide too do, just know you are losing out on money for every game that includes this software.

Please have a good day

いってらっしゃい。

Anthony