Emulation is one of the biggest reasons why anyone would buy a Nintendo Switch. While piracy has probably boosted the sales of the handheld console, Nintendo isn't too thrilled with the idea that there are people out there playing Tears of the Kingdom on a Steam Deck, which explains why the company has now added anti-piracy software to its Developer Portal.
Exactly one year ago, cybersecurity company Irdeto announced that it would be partnering with Nintendo to bring its Anti-Tamper Digital Rights Management (DRM) software Denuvo to the Switch. Cue exasperated groaning from everyone in the gaming community.
The middleware that has been mainly used on PC games has become popular among developers because of its ability to prevent warez groups from cracking games immediately after launch, a period during which most sales of a game are recorded.
It has also become unpopular among players for historically being utter trash that causes performance issues and locks paying customers out of their games, while still being cracked all the time by pirates, thus defeating its entire purpose for existing.
Electronic Arts was the first developer to make use of the DRM in FIFA 15, and though the game was eventually cracked by Chinese pirate group 3DM, it took significantly longer than usual. However, over time, crackers became more proficient in bypassing Denuvo's protection, with games such as Middle-earth: Shadow of War and FIFA 18 being cracked on their release dates.
