Sonic Mania‘s DRM tech has been cracked just eight days after launch, with disgruntled PC players finding a workaround just over a week after the game made its way to the platform.
The platformer was saddled with Denuvo, digital rights management tech that gamers believed was forcing them to maintain an online connection in order to play it on PC, despite the game not even featuring an online multiplayer component. Though Sega later stated that this was not the case, and that Denuvo was not the reasoning behind the necessity of the online connection, it still garnered a wave of negative publicity regardless.
Sega then pushed out an update making Sonic Mania available to play offline, but the pirates continued on in their pursuit to rid the game of Denuvo, eventually removing the anti-tamper tech in eight days. This makes Sonic Mania one of the fastest Denuvo-cracked games ever, just behind Tekken 7 which was cracked in four days (via DSOGaming).
Also: Sonic Mania Review – A Faster, Masterful Remaster
Denuvo has become an enemy of the PC gaming community, with many making it a point to remove it from games almost as soon as they launch. While many continue to argue the case for it affecting the performance of games, in reality Denuvo’s implementation is a measurement to prevent piracy, though it’s one that is becoming increasingly fruitless. Most recently, games such as Mass Effect: Andromeda, DOOM and Hitman have been cracked and had the anti-tamper tech removed by pirates.
Sega has yet to officially remove Denuvo from Sonic Mania, and it’s unclear whether or not this new development will lead to them doing so.
