Id Software removes Denuvo anti-cheat tool from PC version Doom Eternal

Developer id Software is going to remove Denuvo’s anti-cheat tool from the PC version of Doom Eternal with an upcoming patch. The tool was added to the game last week, but the developer was heavily criticized for it.

The producer of the game at id Software, Marty Stratton, reports on Reddit that the developer’s intentions were good, but feedback from players has made it clear that the decision to use the anti-cheat tool should be reconsidered. “That’s why we’re going to remove the game’s anti-cheat technology in our next PC update.”

The developer is looking at the future of the anti-cheat possibilities but states that at least the players should be spared the campaign alone. The widespread adoption of Denuvo Anti-Cheat in a game primarily played in single player mode has been one of the players’ criticisms.

Last week, Denuvo informed Destructoid that it was already working on a possibility to start the single player mode offline without the installation of Anti-Cheat being required. Doom Eternal features a two-on-one Battlemode multiplayer mode, where the single player is the Doom Slayer and the duo can choose from a number of demons. According to id Software, the anti-cheat tool was added to prevent cheating in that mode, but also in view of the “competitive initiatives” that are still on the Battlemode roadmap.

Another point of criticism from players was that performance suffered from the Denuvo tool, but Stratton says those issues are unrelated. The performance drops would be due to a code change related to video memory allocation. That adjustment will also be rolled back with the PC patch.