With just a week to go before launch, Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss has confirmed that it has added Denuvo DRM to the Steam version of the game on PC. The Steam page for Crimson Desert now lists the anti-temper technology, and the software has a poor reputation amongst PC players due to perceptions over how it negatively impacts the performance of a game.
Primarily used to prevent piracy and as an anti-cheat measure, Denuvo essentially operates as an all-in-one solution for developers. The technology has been controversial in almost every game it has been used in, and it’s not uncommon to see studios remove it from their titles following a fan outcry. Recent examples include the Sims-like InZoi and Resident Evil 4’s remake, with users reporting serious performance hits when it was active. Resident Evil 4 developer Capcom has since replaced Denuvo in the game with the Enigma Protector DRM, but this may have made performance even worse.
This has also led to concern about how well Crimson Desert will run on PC, as its higher settings require some serious PC hardware to reach performance targets. Essentially, if you’re aiming to run the game at 1440p and 60fps or above, you’ll need to have an AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT or Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU installed at the bare minimum, with Black Abyss recommending a 50-series Nvidia GPU for the best graphics on the ultra setting. In comparison, console users will have three fine-tuned graphical presets–Performance, Balanced, and Quality–with the PS5 Pro offering a native 4K 30 FPS mode with a high level of ray tracing.
Crimson Desert launches on March 19, and if you’re looking to see when it goes live in your neck of the global woods, you can check out the list of global launch times and pre-load dates for it.
