Summary
- Square Enix has removed Denuvo from Final Fantasy 16’s PC version.
- The digital rights management system is considered invasive by many in the gaming community.
- Final Fantasy 16 may soon be released for Xbox Series X/S.
Square Enix has officially removed Denuvo from the PC version of Final Fantasy 16 around six months after its release on the platform. Denuvo is a digital rights management (DRM) system that is considered invasive by most gamers, so this is great news for anyone looking to play Final Fantasy 16 on PC in the future.
Final Fantasy 16 was originally released for the PlayStation 5 in June 2023. The latest mainline entry in the popular Square Enix franchise was praised by critics and fans, with Final Fantasy 16 celebrating a solid reception, obtaining an average critic score of 88 on OpenCritic. Following this, in September 2024, Final Fantasy 16 was finally released on PC, as well as its DLC.
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Now, as spotted by Dark Side of Gaming, Square Enix has finally removed Denuvo from Final Fantasy 16. The change comes around six months after the game’s release on Steam and the Epic Games Store, and it was a move expected by many, as Denuvo is generally only used to prevent a game from being cracked and pirated during the first months of its release. Square Enix made a similar decision to remove the controversial DRM after only a few months with other PC games such as The Diofield Chronicles, Forspoken, Octopath Traveler, and others in the past. It’s currently unknown if this will impact the performance of Final Fantasy 16 on PC in any way, though, as the game did not suffer from major stuttering issues before as long as gamers had a powerful GPU.
Gamers Can Now Play Final Fantasy 16 on PC Without Denuvo
While it’s possible that this will be one of the last changes that gamers will see made to the PC version of Final Fantasy 16, the game is currently expected to appear on another platform in the near future. Back in January, some rumors indicated that Final Fantasy 16 could be released for the Xbox Series X/S soon. While the game was not announced in the Xbox Developer Direct as some rumors suggested, it’s still expected to be launched on the platform at some point.
Other good news for gamers who loved the design and story of this recent entry in the Final Fantasy universe is that Final Fantasy 16’s director Hiroshi Takai is already working on a new project. According to reports, this unannounced project was recently started in 2025 as the developer finished his work on FF16 at the end of 2024. However, there’s not much information about the specifics of the new game as of this writing, so fans can only speculate.
- Released
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June 22, 2023
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence