Resident Evil 7 Cracked Five Days After Release

Pirates have cracked Resident Evil 7, Capcom's soft reboot of its storied survival horror franchise, in record time, delivering a big blow to the once-invincible Denuvo anti-piracy system.

The hacked version of Resident Evil 7 appeared online last weekend, only five days after Resident Evil 7's January 24, 2017 release date. While Resident Evil isn't the first Denuvo game to fall to hackers—pirates successfully cracked both Doom and Rise of the Tomb Raider last summer—the Resident Evil 7 crack is notable for its quick turnaround time. Just over a year ago, a major Chinese cracking group warned that Denuvo might signal the end of online piracy, and claimed that "free games" (i.e. pirated ones) could disappear in just a couple of years.

According to Ars Technica, Denuvo works by putting triggers directly in a game's code, which are different for every individual game. Previously, that technology made Denuvo protection extremely difficult to break, although the speed with which the Resident Evil 7 crack appeared indicates that the system's days might be numbered.

Some publishers have begun removing Denuvo protection from their games once a crack is publically available. In December, Bethesda removed Denuvo protection from Doom, while Playdead freed its indie platformer Inside from Denuvo after a crack surfaced last November.

Despite its effectiveness, Denuvo has been the topic of some controversy. A handful of consumers argue that the anti-tamper tech, which requires an online connection, could render titles unplayable if the games' servers go down. In addition, some users say that Denuvo shortens the lifespan of solid-state hard drives, although there's no evidence to support that claim.

Judging by the reviews, Resident Evil 7 is one of the first must-play games of 2017—if you're wondering what all the hype is about, get caught up as we reveal the untold truths of the Resident Evil franchise.