Postal developer Running With Scissors, renowned for creating some of the most profane, edgy, and controversial FPS games on PC, says that Denuvo and download rights management (DRM) technology serves as a “punishment” to gaming consumers. Many of 2023’s biggest games including Street Fighter 6, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, and Dead Space Remake use Denuvo, while other unreleased games, like Mortal Kombat 1, Payday 3, and Total War Pharaoh also list DRM technology on their Steam pages. The developer of Postal says that DRM is “intrusive” and that the gaming industry “deserves a better future.”
Denuvo and other DRM technologies are designed to protect games from external tampering and piracy. They limit how users interact with program and other files within games, with the goal of preventing games being copied, altered, or otherwise accessed in ways that contradict the wishes of the game’s creators.
The incorporation of Denuvo and DRM often sparks debate regarding ownership of digital properties and whether anti-piracy measures unfairly limit what consumers can do with games that they have purchased.
Recently, Running With Scissors, creator of the Postal series, said that it is comfortable with people pirating its games if they are priced too highly on digital storefronts such as Steam. Now the developer says that Denuvo and DRM technologies punish consumers.
“The inclusion of intrusive DRM softwares [sic] like Denuvo is a choice that yields an unfair punishment on the consumer,” Running With Scissors says. “Respect the consumer, make a game they want to play, and you will never feel the need to fight piracy. The gaming industry deserves a better future, fight for that.”
In August, the user agreement for Tekken 8 listed Denuvo as included in the upcoming fighting game. Director Katsuhiro Harada responded saying they had “no plans” to incorporate Denuvo in Tekken 8. Running With Scissors recently dropped a surprise update for Postal 2, almost 20 years after the game was first released.
If you’re a big Postal fan, you might want to try some of the best old games on PC, to relive the classic era of taste-free shooters. You can also get some of the best indie games, for when you want to try something completely different.