Denuvo Fails Again: Just Cause 4 Cracked in Just a Day

[Megalith]

The latest version of Denuvo’s anti-tamper tech doesn’t appear to have much of a shelf life: Just Cause 4, which uses version 5.3, has been cracked in just one day. This isn’t much of a surprise, as Hitman 2 used the same software and was cracked in similarly quick fashion. Adding insult to injury, TorrentFreak notes that the game isn’t doing so well critically either, based on its Steam (5/10) and a Metacritic (75/100) scores.

These are undoubtedly tough times for Denuvo, but it would be premature to count out the technology just yet. There can be little doubt that its high-profile has presented a challenge that’s being relished by cracking groups, who seem prepared to invest significant resources into undermining its work. A turnaround is still possible, but protecting a title for just a day just isn’t enough, even by the company’s shortening expectations.

 

[fadedlogic]

The only fun in the game is putting little rockets and balloons on people and things and firing them off. The game is utterly lifeless and looks rather poor. No need to use a cracked version as I am sure the price will plummet soon.

 

[Sircolby45]

The only fun in the game is putting little rockets and balloons on people and things and firing them off. The game is utterly lifeless and looks rather poor. No need to use a cracked version as I am sure the price will plummet soon.

Yes, they amaze me release after release that they don't add coop to this game. IMO it would make this game immensely more entertaining if I could mess around in it with friends. Playing around in it by myself is only fun for 30 minutes or so and then I get board of it. Such a missed opportunity IMO.

 

[tunatime]

Yes, they amaze me release after release that they don't add coop to this game. IMO it would make this game immensely more entertaining if I could mess around in it with friends. Playing around in it by myself is only fun for 30 minutes or so and then I get board of it. Such a missed opportunity IMO.

This is exactly the kind of game that should have mp

 

[Shadowed]

This is exactly the kind of game that should have mp

I had the coop mod for Just Cause 2 for PC. It should still work. Or was it for Just Cause 3? But my point is a mod did exist and the lack of coop made my the devs is inexcusable.

We need more coop games. PvE is dying.

 

[Fun]

The only fun in the game is putting little rockets and balloons on people and things and firing them off. The game is utterly lifeless and looks rather poor. No need to use a cracked version as I am sure the price will plummet soon.

Yep. These games are only good for making funny gifs to post on reddit.

 

[Mike89]

The game makers should have saved the money paid to Denuvo and used it on the game itself. The only thing Denuvo protection does is not allowing players to play the game who would not have bought it anyway and not allowing people to try it to see if they want to buy it. Denuvo saves the game makers nothing, costs extra time and money but game makers are still duped to think they are 'protected'. What a bunch of BS. Whenever I see another game with Denuvo protection cracked, I do a fist pump. Denuvo just needs to fuck off and die.

 

[d3athf1sh]

Yes, they amaze me release after release that they don't add coop to this game. IMO it would make this game immensely more entertaining if I could mess around in it with friends. Playing around in it by myself is only fun for 30 minutes or so and then I get board of it. Such a missed opportunity IMO.

sounds like just cause 2, the last one i purchased. one of those ones i never finished. it was way worse than gta v with the whole wanted level thing after a while.

 

[Uvaman2]

I welcome my game streaming overlords.. i am ready...

 

[RobCalleg]

DRM only effects people who legally purchased the game.

It’s reminds me of Obamacare where you had to pay for the pleasure of not having health insurance.

 

[GoldenTiger]

The game makers should have saved the money paid to Denuvo and used it on the game itself. The only thing Denuvo protection does is not allowing players to play the game who would not have bought it anyway and not allowing people to try it to see if they want to buy it. Denuvo saves the game makers nothing, costs extra time and money but game makers are still duped to think they are 'protected'. What a bunch of BS. Whenever I see another game with Denuvo protection cracked, I do a fist pump. Denuvo just needs to fuck off and die.

Spotted the Warez monkey!

 

[DrezKill]

Very good Denuvo, continue to be useless. Devs, instead of paying for services like this, you could be putting your games up on GOG.

 

[Derangel]

The game makers should have saved the money paid to Denuvo and used it on the game itself. The only thing Denuvo protection does is not allowing players to play the game who would not have bought it anyway and not allowing people to try it to see if they want to buy it. Denuvo saves the game makers nothing, costs extra time and money but game makers are still duped to think they are 'protected'. What a bunch of BS. Whenever I see another game with Denuvo protection cracked, I do a fist pump. Denuvo just needs to fuck off and die.

Unless Denuvo has raised costs, the 110K (roughly) USD cost of it is nothing next to the tens of millions spent on AAA game development. That money would mean fuck all to the development of the game itself.

 

[The_Capulet]

Unless Denuvo has raised costs, the 110K (roughly) USD cost of it is nothing next to the tens of millions spent on AAA game development. That money would mean fuck all to the development of the game itself.

That's a programmer with bonuses, a couple artists or writers, or a pack of QAs. Even one dude over the long course of development really contributes to a project in big ways.

 

[Simmonz]

Time and money well spent. I mean I would sure rather have crappy DRM over better physics, AI, more QA resources, etc.

 

[dragonstongue]

Makes me wonder why devs use denovo at all seeing the huge amount of "breaches" that I have heard/read about seemingly since the time it came out?

maybe they just some kind of huge ass hash based code that one has to input everytime they try to change any baseline code that can "easily" be changed for a new code daily or something like that....uses hashes can be broken, but SHA 1024 bit code (or beyond) is extremely compute expensive to even bother with (if there was no other reason then to "cheat" the game but gain no $$$ from doing so)

where there is a will there's a way, I suppose they have not looked for the way "easier" than paying someone to "secure it" for them ^.^

 

[Ragenrok]

This actually makes me sad, denuvo was doing a good job of getting the devs their 1 month of sales before it was cracked which is the way it should be. After a month if you haven't caved in and purchased they probably weren't going to without a steep discount anyways

 

[Spidey329]

The only fun in the game is putting little rockets and balloons on people and things and firing them off. The game is utterly lifeless and looks rather poor. No need to use a cracked version as I am sure the price will plummet soon.

From what I've seen, it seems like it's Just Cause 3 with worse graphics (there's a comparison video that shows graphics went backwards), new map, and added weather physics.

The rest of the game seems to be just an expansion on JC3. Not sure why they gave it the JC4 name since the release is so close to the last game and there was no significant changes.

I'm still amazed that many game companies that specialize in open-world (and have for years) still don't have it nailed down as much as Rockstar. Their open-world games go beyond the standard detail levels and it shows, they feel alive.

 

[Deleted member 204526]

Does Denuvo have any sort of stipulation written into their contract guaranteeing publishers that the game will not be cracked for X number of days else they're on the hook for potential lost revenue?

 

[Laowai]

Does Denuvo have any sort of stipulation written into their contract guaranteeing publishers that the game will not be cracked for X number of days else they're on the hook for potential lost revenue?

How would one go about putting a number on potential lost revenue?
A few years ago the co-founder denied that they give refunds if a game is cracked within X period of time but I certainly won't assert that it hasn't changed, it very well could have.

 

[Absalom]

It wouldn't surprise me if Machine Learning is being used to help crack this. It would certainly explain the efficiency.

 

[oldmanbal]

hated 3. I really don't like the feel of the engine implementation on just cause or ghost recon

both feel off on pc

 

[oldmanbal]

Unless Denuvo has raised costs, the 110K (roughly) USD cost of it is nothing next to the tens of millions spent on AAA game development. That money would mean fuck all to the development of the game itself.

advertising can cost up to 20x the development budget. Especially if it's a console exclusive.

 

[Deleted member 89137]

I never had any interest in any of the Just Cause games. They look tremendously boring, unless you like fucking around in a sandbox all day blowing up NPC's....

 

[Derangel]

advertising can cost up to 20x the development budget. Especially if it's a console exclusive.

Not 20x, that would mean companies would spend literally billions on advertising a single game. Last I heard it can range from double to 3x, depending on the ad campaign and the development cost of the game itself. For the rare game that reaches the multiple hundreds of millions I wouldn't be surprised if the ad budget isn't too much more than the cost of the game itself, outside of RDR2 that is one game where I could see the ad budget getting close to that billion point.

 

[OblivionLord]

I never had any interest in any of the Just Cause games. They look tremendously boring, unless you like fucking around in a sandbox all day blowing up NPC's....

These games are console focused and cant really utilize beefy hardware to merit investing time to implement sophisticated ai. The environmental physics in this game are pretty much basic for today standards and are again suited for console hardware. Imagine a game desiged with highend pc hardware without the notion of being degraded to suit console hardware. AAgame like this won't sell since it would only be playable on a very small percentage of systems in the market.

 

[Olle P]

Not 20x, that would mean companies would spend literally billions on advertising a single game. ...

Not if it's anywhere near how the movie industry does it:
When they talk about the production cost of a movie, that number includes the marketing cost. (Typically about 50% for a Hollywood production.)
If the 20x is correct (which I doubt) that means the budget for a M$20 game is M$19 marketing and M$1 to actually make the game.

 

[M76]

Oh, drm, still hurting paying customers, and doing scant little to boost sales. The concept that any of those who pirate games would buy them if they couldn't is still an unproven myth.

 

[M76]

I welcome my game streaming overlords.. i am ready...

The one positive thing about streaming that it'd finally put an end to their constant whining about piracy and how it affects their sales.

 

[Uvaman2]

The one positive thing about streaming that it'd finally put an end to their constant whining about piracy and how it affects their sales.

Yep... And the bullshit of semi owership dies too... Either you can stream it or not.

 

[robjordan406]

There is nothing worse than paying for a game only to find out it sucked... that was me with Overkill-Walking Dead.. I like the game but there is no one playing online and the multiplayer part is really really terrible..

 

[MavericK]

Seems like a good place for this:

 

[Derangel]

Not if it's anywhere near how the movie industry does it:
When they talk about the production cost of a movie, that number includes the marketing cost. (Typically about 50% for a Hollywood production.)
If the 20x is correct (which I doubt) that means the budget for a M$20 game is M$19 marketing and M$1 to actually make the game.

Studios report costs differently sometimes (if they do at all). However, there are cases where we have numbers for both actual dev cost and marketing costs. Witcher 3, for example, had a total budget of $80m. $40m of that was development and $40m was marketing. Halo 2 also had a $40m dev budget with another $80m spent on marketing. COD: Modern Warfare 2 was $40-50m dev budget with over $200m spent on marketing. GTAV is an interesting exception as it cost more to make (137m) than it did to market (128m).