Doom Eternal to remove Denuvo Anti-Cheat on PC

By Asher Madan
last updated

It's demon-slaying time!

Doom Slayer in Doom Eternal
Doom Slayer in Doom Eternal (Image credit: Bethesda)

What you need to know

  • Doom Eternal launched on March 20.
  • The title is a first-person shooter with plenty of gore.
  • It's getting a new update that removes Denuvo Anti-Cheat.
  • You can purchase Doom Eternal for $60 on the Microsoft Store (opens in new tab).

Doom Eternal is a first-person shooter that continues the story of the reboot. It looks absolutely spectacular on Xbox One X and should provide plenty of single-player and multiplayer enjoyment. In addition to Xbox One, Doom Eternal is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Google Stadia.

Today, id Software announced that it was removing Denuvo Anti-Cheat in Update 1. The team said the following on Reddit.

Despite our best intentions, feedback from players has made it clear that we must reevaluate our approach to anti-cheat integration. With that, we will be removing the anti-cheat technology from the game in our next PC update. As we examine any future of anti-cheat in Doom Eternal, at a minimum we must consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed, as well as ensure the overall timing of any anti-cheat integration better aligns with player expectations around clear initiatives – like ranked or competitive play – where demand for anti-cheat is far greater. It is important to note that our decision to include anti-cheat was guided by nothing other than the factors and goals I've outlined above – all driven by our team at id Software. I have seen speculation online that Bethesda is forcing these or other decisions on us, and it's simply untrue. It's also worth noting that our decision to remove the anti-cheat software is not based on the quality of the Denuvo Anti-Cheat solution. Many have unfortunately related the performance and stability issues introduced in Update 1 to the introduction of anti-cheat. They are not related.

It's unclear what the new anti-cheat solution will be. We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more.

Do you play Doom Eternal on PC? Have you had issues with Denuvo Anti-Cheat? Let us know. The cheating issue appears to be less severe on consoles, so if you own an Xbox One or PlayStation 4, you can always play the game there if you prefer.

Related: Our full DOOM Eternal Xbox One review

Hell on Earth

 (opens in new tab)
Doom Eternal


Doom Eternal is the next frenetic iteration in the long-running franchise. Set for launch this month, the game aims to bring even more fast-paced action to consoles and PC with new enemies, story, multiplayer modes, and more.

Asher Madan
Asher Madan

Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.

12 Comments
  • Back to how it was on release. If only there was some kind of admin that would manage the servers and ban people manually like the old days where people cared about keeping servers clean and gamers knew they were actively banning people.
  • It's a little hard to manage a million+ players though. It's all well and good to say they should just "ban cheaters" but without the software actually tracking cheats how do they know someone is cheating? Sure people could send photos/videos but then that requires paying people to sift though hundreds or thousands of submissions, probably ten percent of which (if that) are actually cheaters.
  • In the old days you had 200 people in a server. Let's be realistic, if we're gonna discuss this.
  • As much as I hate denuvo as an anti-cheat, my only issue with it was forcing it into single player.
    It's as bad as having a forced online mode for single player.
  • I think the only way to not have any anti-cheat kick in for single player is to have seperate MP and SP executables.
  • Which makes no sense. Anti cheat software is here to stay, folks. Get used to it, because we'll always have bored kids who think winning is what makes a game fun.
  • I think the main reason for the large amount of backlash is because the Denuvo brand itself is toxic due to its association with DRM. The company behind the anti-cheat should seriously consider rebranding it as far away from Denuvo as possible.
  • It is not that because Denuvo anti-tamper was part of Doom Eternal since launch and it does not install any memory resident software that can impact your system. However Denuvo anit-cheat is far, it installs itself at ring 0, the highest privilege. It is inherently a big security risk, it has a significant impact on system performance, it broke Linux compatibility. Kernel-level anti-cheat software is always going to have a huge problem with acceptance because of previous attempts at such such as Starforce which were abhorent solutions. Bethesda/ID did not help the situation by trying to slip it in after launch without any warning it was coming. I don't care about Denuvo anti-tamper but I would never run anything that required their anti-cheat, at least not in its current state.
  • I guess this goes over my head, is it just the DRM association that people don't like this for? Does it negatively impact performance? Or is this just PC players complaining for no reason?
  • Kids whining. Just people who have too much of a voice about business decisions.
  • I believe a lot of the backlash is because of Valorant. Both Valorant and Doom Eternal implemented kernal level anti-cheat measures. The system that Valorant used (called Vanguard) was actually blocking a lot of CPU monitoring software, fan control, and things like that so there was a huge outcry that it was too invasive. I haven't actually seen any articles or comments that the Doom anti-cheat system has done the same thing, so I believe people are linking the two, as in because it happened with Valorant's measure, it will also happen with Doom Eternal. This is just a guess though as to why the huge outcry beyond just simply that people don't like anti-cheat software.
  • What's exactly the criticism, the outcry against anti cheat software? I mean, you need to have one. I just hope this isn't just a hypocritic cry against unwanted software disguising just wanting to cheat and hack away.