DOOM Eternal has seen extensive critical and commercial success since its launch in March. However, an update last week for PC users threatened to upend positive sentiment since it added Denuvo Anti-Cheat. Though it was stated to not be a risk, many were uncomfortable having a kernel-mode driver installed, that too when they just wanted to play the campaign offline.
Thankfully, it seems that the negative reactions have gotten through to id Software. Executive producer Marty Stratton confirmed on the game’s Reddit that the next PC update would remove Denuvo Anti-Cheat. “Despite our best intentions, feedback from players has made it clear that we must re-evaluate our approach to anti-cheat integration. With that, we will be removing the anti-cheat technology from the game in our next PC update.
“As we examine any future of anti-cheat in DOOM Eternal, at a minimum we must consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed, as well as ensure the overall timing of any anti-cheat integration better aligns with player expectations around clear initiatives—like ranked or competitive play—where demand for anti-cheat is far greater.”
Stratton also clarified that Denuvo wasn’t responsible for the performance and stability issues that players have been facing. “Through our investigation, we discovered and have fixed several crashes in our code related to customizable skins. We were also able to identify and fix a number of other memory-related crashes that should improve overall stability for players. All of these fixes will be in our next PC update.”
Finally, Stratton made sure to clarify that the use of Denuvo Anti-Cheat was id Software’s decision and not Bethesda’s, calling any speculation on the matter “simply untrue”.
Despite DOOM Eternal having a number of negative reviews on Steam thanks to this controversy, the title still has quite the future ahead. Campaign DLC is currently in development with new details and screenshots being shared recently. In the meantime, stay tuned for when the next PC update goes live.
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