Bethesda Helps Pirates by Accidentally Releasing Denuvo-Free Version of DOOM Eternal

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Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda may want to start double checking their files before distribution. After installing DOOM Eternal, users can find a folder called “original” in the game’s primary directory, which contains something pretty interesting – an .exe file that isn’t protected by Denuvo’s anti-tamper DRM software.

Purchasers thought they were being trolled because that’s an embarrassing oversight, but Bethesda’s incompetence is indeed genuine. Gamers who want to run DOOM Eternal without DRM just have to do one simple thing: replace the Denuvo-protected DOOMEternalx64vk.exe (369 MB) with the original version (67 MB).

Bethesda has since released a patch that breaks the “cracked” copy going around on pirate sites, but legitimate owners can continue playing DOOM Eternal without DRM by taking the step above.

This is not the first time that Bethesda screwed up like this, as RAGE 2 was also released with a DRM-less executable.

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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