Square Enix has removed Denuvo anti-tamper from the Steam version of Final Fantasy 16, just a few months after the RPG finally came to Valve’s platform. The latest numbered game in the critically acclaimed FF series originally launched on PS5, but Square Enix has been making a more concerted effort recently to bring its tentpole releases to as many platforms as possible. With that, one of my favorite narrative experiences of the last few years no longer has Denuvo, if that ever kept you from diving in on PC.
We’re in a new era for Final Fantasy right now. Games like 7 Rebirth are quickly coming to PC, FF14 is by far the biggest it’s ever been with Dawntrail, and the much-anticipated 17th entry can’t come soon enough. Final Fantasy 16’s director even thinks the series is likely to start coming to PCs on day one going forward, even if that is decided by each development team.
Each of the Final Fantasy RPGs offers something wildly different, and if Denuvo has been holding you back from trying Clive Rosfield’s adventure, it appears to have been removed from the Steam version. An update on SteamDB from Tuesday March 4 says the third-party DRM tool has been removed, and the box indicating its inclusion on the frontend of Valve’s platform has disappeared, too.
FF16 isn’t the only Square Enix game to lose Denuvo in recent days, either, as it was quietly pulled from JRPG Visions of Mana as well. In both cases the DRM tool was only in the game for a maximum of six months, before being unceremoniously removed.
While Denuvo aims to prevent piracy, it’s remained quite the controversial anti-tamper tool in the PC gaming space. Players continue to allege that it actively hinders performance. Last year, product manager Andreas Ullmann said that Denuvo is sick of the “toxicity,” adding that the team doesn’t “want to leave the floor to these people who are posting all things about us anymore.”
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