Mass Effect: Andromeda received patch 1.09 recently, which brought about a bunch of fixes to the game and continued to improve the game's facial animations. Bioware failed to mention that the Denuvo DRM was removed from the game with the patch as well, which was noticed by Dark Side of Gaming. However, this does not mean Andromeda is DRM-less right now, as players still must use EA's Origin service to play the game on PC.
Denuvo is a software service offered to developers/publishers with the intent of preventing piracy of games. Denuvo, in particular, has received a lot of criticism as the software allegedly affects the performance of games, a debate which cropped up again with the recently released RiME.
Bioware choosing to rid Mass Effect: Andromeda of Denuvo is just another in a recent trend of games doing exactly the same thing. Several games have launched with Denuvo only to remove it at later date in some patch, such as DOOM, RiME, and Inside. What this trend means for other games in the future is up to debate and is just another part of the much longer running discussion on DRM in general.
Quick Take
This would have been a great move for Bioware if Andromeda didn't already have such a poisoned reputation. For other developers getting rid of Denuvo, a very disliked product by the PC gaming community, could be a pretty good PR boost. It slaps down something the community dislikes and gets them some positive vibes from them. Of course, the vast, vast majority of sales for a game happen in the first couple of weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the trend going forward be the same here. Start with Denuvo and remove it later when developers feel the sales are "safe."What do you think of Mass Effect: Andromeda getting rid of Denuvo? Do you think Denuvo offers a worthwhile service to developers? Let us know in the comments below!
