Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Ghostwire: Tokyo's latest PC update quietly adds Denuvo, a year after launch

Redfall listed as using controversial technology too.

Bethesda has added the controversial Denuvo copy protection to Ghostwire: Tokyo on PC, via the game's big new Spider's Thread update.

The addition has not been publicly confirmed by Bethesda, but was spotted by DSOGaming.

Fellow Bethesda-published game Redfall is also set to use Denuvo at launch, according to its Steam page.

Newscast: Are Unreal Engine's procedural generation and Ubisoft's Ghostwriter the future of game development?Watch on YouTube

Why has Ghostwire: Tokyo received Denuvo protection now? This week's big update for the game likely presented a good oppurtunity to add it in, though its use in Redfall as well raises questions over whether this it will be included in all Bethesda releases for the forseeable future.

Will Starfield also use Denuvo? We're still five months away from release, though there's no mention of it via the game's Steam page as yet.

In contrast, Capcom this week removed Denuvo from Resident Evil Village, two years after it originally released to criticism that the game's Denuvo protection was impacting performance.

It's a criticism which has been levelled against Denuvo over multiple games, and something Digital Foundry has previously investigated, finding that there is - in some cases - a hit to CPU usage from games with Denuvo plugged in.

This week's Spider's Thread update for Ghostwire Tokyo has been timed alongside the game's launch on Xbox Series X/S (and Xbox Game Pass), following the game's year of console exclusivity on PlayStation 5. All platforms now have the game's Spider's Thread update content, which adds new locations, quests, skills and a fresh mode.