Denuvo DRM maker cracks down on game leakers with new tech — TraceMark for Gaming puts a watermark on games to unmask the source

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Incorporating visible or invisible watermarking techniques can make it possible to identify a leaker from a single screen or clip.

Official imagery of Irdeto's Denuvo TraceMark for Games.
Official imagery of Irdeto's Denuvo TraceMark for Games. (Image credit: Irdeto)

Irdeto, developers of the heavily maligned Denuvo DRM, continue to pop up in the headlines— this time, by debuting a new game watermarking system during the 2024 Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in hopes of putting an end to today's climate of high-fidelity game leaks during pre-release periods.

Now, while Irdeto's Denuvo DRM is quite rightfully disliked due to its negative gaming performance impacts and occasional tendency to break mods or other factors of the experience for paying customers, TraceMark at least sounds like something not likely to make the gaming experience any worse. Not by itself, anyway— though it seems highly probable that any game using TraceMark for Games during development will likely also use Denuvo's proper DRM come launch time, which is a worst-case scenario for DRM critics.

So, how does "TraceMark for Gaming" actually work? According to Irdeto, TraceMark enables precise tracing of any leaked material back to its source, thanks to visible or invisible watermarks that serve as identifiers. According to them, these should still be detectable even after an image has been cropped, compressed, blurred, etc. Of course, Irdeto recommends using Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM alongside TraceMark for Gaming during the development process, hoping for a "one-click solution that will discourage content and game leaks."

For the most part, this news isn't that bad—developers are well within their rights to keep their games confidential, and we've seen many major-profile leaks in the past few years that mainly only served to force game developers and publishers' hands. Fighting this issue may involve a more widespread adoption of Denuvo, though, which no PC gamer in their right mind will be happy about.

Life will get much more complicated for video game leakers, courtesy of every gamer's favorite DRM provider. As a silver lining for those unruly leakers, the old classic leaking methods of "bigfoot photography" will return to the forefront in hopes of avoiding hidden, watermarked identifiers.

Christopher Harper
Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    Train an AI to discover the "visible and invisible watermarks" so they can be removed, problem solved.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Train an AI to discover the "visible and invisible watermarks" so they can be removed, problem solved.
    You might as well tell the AI to find "stuff" and remove "stuff".
    Without a clear understanding if what the watermark is ... assuming it isn't the person's name in 1 point font in the top right of each image ... you wouldn't be sure if the AI worked or not.

    And seeing how leaking pre-release game data got the Starfield leaker charged with theft
    https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/08/starfield-leaker-arrested-for-felony-theft-after-attempting-to-sell-early-copies/
    The threat of criminal prosecution is quite real, especially if they don't have to do an investigation to find the leaker.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    derekullo said:
    And seeing how leaking pre-release game data got the Starfield leaker charged with theft
    He got charged for selling the games that were stolen, not for the leaked footage.

    If cracker groups find certain patterns in these watermarked videos then it might be able for them to program an AI ,or just an app I guess, to look for these patterns and possible change them enough to be useless.
    If denuvo uses a very different pattern for every source then it's gonna be tough.
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    Idiots probably spend more on DRM than they'd lose to piracy. Power to em though, gotta respect their dedication to the impossible task. I liken it to the entire ad industry. I doubt the billions spent/received in ad revenue result in an equal or greater uptick in sales. Again, power to em though..
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    CelicaGT said:
    Idiots probably spend more on DRM than they'd lose to piracy. Power to em though, gotta respect their dedication to the impossible task. I liken it to the entire ad industry. I doubt the billions spent/received in ad revenue result in an equal or greater uptick in sales. Again, power to em though..
    It's a numbers game, they are not trying to completely stop piracy, they are just trying to reduce it enough for them to make more money.
    Adds work on the same principle that social bonds work, the more often you see someone the more familiar you feel towards them, doesn't matter if it's a person or a can of soda, you are going to choose the more familiar one over the less familiar one.
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    TerryLaze said:
    It's a numbers game, they are not trying to completely stop piracy, they are just trying to reduce it enough for them to make more money.
    Adds work on the same principle that social bonds work, the more often you see someone the more familiar you feel towards them, doesn't matter if it's a person or a can of soda, you are going to choose the more familiar one over the less familiar one.
    Oh I'm well aware of the numbers game. As for ads, they've built such a negative image these days, even with the average consumer. I'd be curious if that principle still plays through or if the ad industry is just a huge juggernaut that continues to churn out of sheer momentum. I know I've begun to associate certain brands with a negative sentiment, because of overdone, or poorly done ads. At this point almost everyone I know runs adblock plugins, and pays upfront for services. The rest just walk out of the room when ads are playing on streamed content. That said, even a percentage of a percentage could be millions in increased sales.

    Back onto DRM. I will not and have not purchased anything with Denuvo. I got a Star Wars game free with a promotion but will never use it because of Denuvo. I have no objection to corporations/individuals protecting their IP but there's something about Denuvo that just feels slimy. I can't describe it in a single word, but the fact they would put that software on my machine, to monitor for -possible- infringement is just....no.
    Reply