If SEGA’s insistence on using DRM software Denuvo on the PC version of Sonic Mania has been getting you down, then you may be in for a treat. It’s looking likely that an incoming official update will soon patch the troublesome tech entirely from the game.
The discovery was made public via hobbyist hacker ‘Sewer56’ on Twitter today, after digging around some disassembled files on Steam’s Beta Branch (which often gives users a heads up on incoming updates on certain games).
Link: Sewer56
So with no trace of Denuvo anywhere in the latest Sonic Mania package, there’s a high chance that SEGA is about to bin the DRM software entirely. Fans have been unhappy with the PC version of Sonic Mania ever since launch, after discovering Denuvo in the game (its implementation being the likely cause of a several-week delay for the original non-Plus version’s launch back in 2017). While Denuvo is intended to prevent piracy by wrapping a game in Digital Rights Management code, it is in fact the cause of persistent performance issues with the game, which were repeated once Sonic Mania Plus was released.
It’s good to see the evil defeated. But man, if what Sewer56 is saying is true, it also seems like Denuvo took up a HUGE chunk of install data, with the DRM’s removal vastly reducing the size of the Sonic Mania exe file.
Are you happy about Denuvo’s removal? Let us know in the comments below. And thanks for the discovery, Sewer56!
While I’ve had no issue with denuvo personally, simply by turning off my proxy and anti virus before startup, I’ve been fine playing the game. For those that are bothered by it or genuinely affected by it I think this will be a major plus for them.
Thank God!
This is no big deal to me as I have Mania Plus on Switch.
I’m certain others have done so as well