Piracy group that bypassed dozens of Denuvo games quits after voices38 lawsuit

Irdeto has scored a victory after a piracy group responsible for Denuvo releases quit. DenuvOwO used the hypervisor bypass method on more than 60 titles, a major blow to the DRM. However, a lawsuit against fellow hacker voices38 has convinced the organization to shut down.

On September 14th, Irdeto began litigation in a Northern California U.S. District Court. Rather than copyright infringement, the claims revolve around the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions. Listed Denuvo games affected include Resident Evil Requiem and Hogwarts Legacy.

Hunting a phantom

The problem for the software maker is that the identity and location of voices38 is unknown. To find the individual, it has subpoenaed information from Discord and Reddit. After the news broke, the pirate remained defiant, promising to continue developing cracks.

While the defendant may not be shaken, DenuvOwO isn't taking chances. A Reddit thread shared a message from a member confirming their disbanding. The person also revealed the new lawsuit was a concern. It’s speculated that the hackers feel more vulnerable to detection.

Hypervisor bypass limitations

Recently, the hypervisor bypass became slightly less of a factor. Voices38 was cracking Denuvo games at an accelerated pace, with Mortal Kombat 1 among 5 victims. Instead of tricking the anti-tamper DRM, the titles saw checks in their executables modified. Meanwhile, the alternate method was easier to implement, but required modifying Windows security settings.

Despite the drawbacks, piracy supporters are mourning the loss of DenuvOwO. Even though voices38 had become more efficient, the work remained labor-intensive. Together, the two solutions covered most candidates that relied on Irdeto software.

Other organizations may continue the defunct collective's efforts. The group did not create the hypervisor bypass themselves and relied on existing open-source projects. Nevertheless, there are worries about trusting releases from an unproven source. Malicious code in compromised games could potentially exploit Windows, steal data, or cause crashes.