We are seeing unconfirmed reports that Octopath Traveller on Steam has removed its Denuvo anti-tamper protection.
For those unfamiliar Denuvo is a form of DRM (Digital Rights Management), criticized for its allegations of effectiveness. These include a constant and uninterrupted online connection even on single-player games, and allegations of causing severe performance inhibition.
There have even been accusations and rumors of the anti-piracy measure being “cracked” (allowing the once-protected software to be copied and distributed) mere days after or even before a “protected” game’s release.
Users on the game’s community forum on Steam have noticed the game’s files are now smaller. However, the game’s store listing as of this time of writing still shows it as using Denuvo DRM.
We have reached out to Denuvo, Steam, and Square Enix for comment.
Octopath Traveler is out now on Windows PC (via Steam), and Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our thorough review here (We highly recommend it!).