Denuvo Anti-Cheat System to Be Removed from Doom Eternal After Gamers Complain

DOOM Eternal’s Battlemode multiplayer was the first project to be protected by the new Denuvo Anti-Cheat system. Players met it with no enthusiasm: for example, user feedback in Steam fell to the “Mixed” mark.

The update with Denuvo Anti-Cheat started last week, on May 14. On Wednesday, Marty Stratton, executive producer of Doom Eternal, announced via Reddit that this software would be removed in the next PC update. As Stratton writes, Denuvo Anti-Cheat was introduced for the following reasons:

To defend BATTLEMODE from cheaters and prepare a good ground for further competitive initiatives in this mode.

To be prepared for the launch of “Invasion” — a new mode where you can break into the campaigns of other players as a demon.

Kernel-level integrations are usually the most effective measure to counter cheaters.

Denuvo’s solution met the privacy and security standards of id.

Players didn’t like the fact that DOOM 2016’s anti-cheat technology was introduced too late.

The intentions were exceptionally good. Unfortunately, gamers’ comments made it clear that the approach to implementing the anti-cheat should be reconsidered, per Stratton. The developers want to provide an opportunity to not install anti-cheats if the user plays only story mode. In addition, the anti-cheat tech should be introduced at the right time. For example, when the game appears in competitive mode with ranks, where the requirements for protection against hackers are much higher than usual.

In his letter, Stratton highlights two other things:

There was speculation on the web that all dubious decisions about DOOM Eternal are Bethesda’s fault (because it’s the parent company and publisher). That’s not true, according to Stratton, who says the decision to include anti-cheat technolgy was made by id Software.

Some players believe that the performance and stability problems appeared precisely because of the anti-cheat. This is also not true. New errors are not associated with Denuvo Anti-Cheat.

Update 1.1 will remove Denuvo Anti-Cheat and fix some new bugs. Stratton says he hopes Update 1.1 will roll out “within a week.”