inZOI Studio has announced that Denuvo will not be present in the Early Access release of its life simulator of the same name.
In an official announcement on Steam, inZOI producer and director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim posted:
“We have decided to remove Denuvo from the Early Access build of inZOI.
“We initially chose to implement Denuvo as a way to protect the game from illegal distribution. At the time, we believed this would help ensure fairness for players who had properly purchased the game. However, after taking a closer look at community feedback, we quickly realized that this approach did not align with what our players wanted.”
Denuvo is an anti-tamper software designed to prevent piracy of video games. While that sounds good on paper, its inclusion is controversial with players for several reasons.
The first reason is performance issues. Some players report that certain games suffer framerate drops and other issues when Denuvo is present. While this doesn’t happen with every game, there are some reported instances where a game’s performance noticeably improved after Denuvo was patched out.
Another reason is the effect Denuvo may require you to keep an internet connection to play. This isn’t true for every game, but some implementations require an occasional online check-in to continue playing. This is especially troubling for anyone on handheld or laptop devices, where it might be tricky to maintain a connection to the internet.
Typically, once a game’s launch period has settled, developers scale back on Denuvo and tend to remove the software from the game. So, inZOI is just getting ahead.
The post continues:
“We understand that removing Denuvo increases the risk of the game being cracked and illegally distributed after release. At the same time, we believe it opens up a valuable opportunity: it allows inZOI to become more freely configurable—unlocking new ways for players to shape new experiences for other players. We believe enabling this freedom from the very beginning will lead to innovative and long-lasting enjoyment for the community.”
inZOI will launch in Steam Early Access on 28th March, 2025.
For the latest gaming news, follow GameWatcher on BlueSky, check out our videos on YouTube, or give us a like on Facebook. We sometimes include affiliate links in our posts, which grants us a small commission, thank you.
