SMT5: Vengeance Confirms Controversial Feature

The PC version of Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance will incorporate Denuvo Anti-Tamper. The game's use of the controversial digital rights management (DRM) solution has been confirmed by one of the recently surfaced Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance pre-order listings.

Denuvo Anti-Tamper is nothing new for Atlus games, with the studio's history of its usage being almost as old as its modern foray into PC publishing. Specifically, the developer's first title to make use of this technology was the PC port of Persona 4 Golden, released in mid-2020. Although the fandom has sporadically complained about this practice, having previously even mistakenly blamed it for some performance issues in Persona 4 Golden, Atlus's track record with implementing Denuvo is mostly free of controversy, even if the tech itself is not.

The recent start of the Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance pre-order period has now brought forward the confirmation that the upcoming JRPG will mark yet another Atlus PC release that incorporates Denuvo. That's according to its Steam page, whose list of notices mentions the anti-piracy software as the game's one and only third-party DRM feature.

The last Atlus PC title that launched without Denuvo was Catherine Classic, released in early 2019. The anti-tampering software was then incorporated into the day-one versions of all 12 games that the studio released on Steam over the next half a decade. Although some Japanese developer-publishers are in the habit of removing Denuvo from their titles post-release, Atlus does not subscribe to that approach, even though its parent, Sega, occasionally does. SMT5: Vengeance's Denuvo implementation is hence likely to stay in the game indefinitely.

Game

Release Date

Denuvo

Catherine Classic

January 10, 2019

❌

Persona 4 Golden

June 13, 2020

✅

Persona 5 Strikers

February 23, 2021

✅

SMT 3: Nocturne HD Remaster

May 21, 2021

✅

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

March 17, 2022

✅

Soul Hackers 2

August 26, 2022

✅

Persona 5 Royal

October 21, 2022

✅

Persona 3 Portable

January