Crimson Desert Adds Denuvo One Week Before Launch

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By Gaming News
14 March 2026 no comments

Crimson Desert is confirmed to include Denuvo. The update was added two days ago but Pearl Abyss says all PC previews already contain it.

Crimson Desert Adds Denuvo  

One of the most anticipated games this year is launching next week and while it doesn’t need help getting into the headlines, Crimson Desert managed to get another spotlight which, this time, doesn’t put it on a pedestal. The game developed and published by Pearl Abyss is confirmed to have Denuvo upon launch, much to the dismay of many.

 

Crimson Desert Launches with Denuvo DRM

Denuvo has found its way to another high-profile game with Crimson Desert. The game was initially announced in 2019 and during that over six years in development, there was no indication that it would launch with the infamous DRM software. Even until recently, since it will launch in a week’s time, players didn’t think it would. But now it is.

With all eyes on the game preparing for last minute preps, fans hoping to get a new update before launch did get one but not of the “good” kind. The game’s Steam page now includes the Denuvo notice and just to make sure it wasn’t a mistake, we also checked the SteamDB update which confirms the fact. On March 12, Pearl Abyss added it to the game.

Of course it’s not a new thing and publishers don’t need the community’s permission to have it on the games (duh) but the fact that it was added a week before launch is a bit displeasing. There are people who purposely do not buy a game with Denuvo in it by principle. So getting this information so close to launch doesn’t speak full transparency.

With growing chatter (and maybe even annoyance) in the community, Pearl Abyss set the record straight… through Paul Tassi. According to him, the company shared that all the benchmark videos and performance specs already have Denuvo in them and that it is “representative of the final consumer’s experience.” That includes the Digital Foundry videos which you can see in the bottom of this article.

   

If that was the case, why did the Steam page not include it until two days ago? Was it a deliberate omission so it doesn’t ruin the anticipation for the game? Was it an honest mistake? Or was it supposed to launch without it but considering the reception it’s gotten, they’ve decided to have the DRM in there?

Pearle Abyss didn’t issue an official statement about it and chances are they won’t either. While Denuvo doesn’t render a game unplayable, it does affect performance at some point and most importantly, is an issue with game preservation.

Crimson Desert officially launches on March 19, 2026 for PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. There are rumors that it will reach Nintendo Switch 2 also in the future.

     

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Sending some gaming news your way from a surfing paradise island. Loves creating content, and researching informative facts and useless trivia. A novice in the gaming industry but a veteran in communications and publication.

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