For the past 24 hours, panic and suspicion arose for Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle because some eagle-eyed gamers discovered that the studio had added Denuvo to the game copies without informing the public. The anti-tamper and generally disliked DRM is often viewed as an omen of a poorly made game. However, Bethesda was quick to clarify that it’s not enforcing the Denuvo DRM for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Bethesda took to X/Twitter to announce the much-needed statement to placate the snarling fans. Here’s the tweet:
So without a doubt, Denuvo won’t be present in the release or retail copies of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and you can rest assured. Bethesda likely didn’t announce that they added Denuvo to the review copies because it was an extra layer of security against early game leaks.
Prior to Bethesda’s clarification, the gaming community was just about ready to go up in arms– figuratively, and even poised to brand Indiana Jones as a ruined game. Several changelist file readings detailed some encrypted Denuvo test sequences and X/Twitter users were quick to spread their findings. The tweets are now deleted, however.
Denuvo Still Isn’t Welcome
It was an odd pairing since Bethesda even shed off Denuvo from one of their best FPS games, DOOM Eternal and their bestsellers such as Skyrim and Starfield didn’t incorporate Denuvo. So you can probably understand what the panic was all about.
As for Denuvo itself, its reputation in the gaming community remains generally negative with accusations and suspicions ranging from performance hobbling to general game instability. Denuvo even made an effort to be more transparent to the gaming community and to cleanse its image.
This effort was sadly met with hostility and promptly abandoned. It’s certainly not welcome in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. But thankfully, Bethesda is not implementing Denuvo in the game.
Indiana Jones will be released on December 9, 2024, but players who purchased the Premium Edition or Collector’s Edition will be granted earlier access on December 6 ahead of the full launch.
