Denuvo DRM Found in Sonic Mania for Steam

What was meant to be the completion of one of the most successful launches of a Sonic game in decades has now been dampened upon the community’s discovery that a controversial digital rights management tool has been found in Sonic Mania, a game developed by talent largely borne from the fan game and modding communities such technology seeks to curb.

Many users who downloaded Mania upon its launch on Steam at noon ET today noted that Denuvo Anti-Tamper Technology is part of the download package. It comes on the heels of news that “no current plans” are in the works to add Steam Workshop support to Mania, according to Sega’s Aaron Webber in a Tweet.

Another Tweet sent to us this afternoon shows that Denuvo, at a minimum, prohibits players from enjoying Mania without an Internet connection active:

Critics of Denuvo have spoken of other ill benefits to the technology, including the possibility of its constant encryption and decryption damaging hard drives and shortening the lifespan of solid state hard drives, or SSDs. Its developer, Denuvo Software Solutions, denies those allegations.

Further, Denuvo is not fireproof. Several games that have come with it bundled have been cracked to circumvent the technology. The latest is Sonnori Corp’s White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, released just last week. Some publishers and developers have elected to remove Denuvo after community outcry.

Fears were raised in the community about the potential inclusion of Denuvo when Mania for PC was singled out and delayed two weeks just a few days before the official launch on other systems.

Though reviews on Steam remain overwhelmingly positive, many of the negative remarks on Mania‘s product page directly cite Denuvo as a reason.

Mania is the fourth Sega title to have the technology bundled with a PC download. Two Warhammer games and Football Manager