DRM Developer Denuvo by Irdeto has announced that it will be working on Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection to prevent the PC emulation of pirated games to the console.

This announcement was made at Gamescom 2022 and later reaffirmed today in a press release on Irdeto’s website.

Denuvo says that they understand that privacy is a big problem for studios developing games for the Nintendo Switch. By developing software that prevents said piracy, studios would be able to increase their revenues during the game’s launch window, the time when it stands to gain the most monetization.

“We at Denuvo understand that piracy negatively affects the gaming industry and are working with the industry parties to ensure they have the latest protection technologies available for them. Our team is excited to provide a solution that helps the developers and publishers to help fight the issue of Nintendo Switch piracy,” said Reinhard Blaukovitsch, Managing Director at Denuvo by Irdeto.

The software developer says that the new protection software will integrate seamlessly the “build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience”. It allows for the insertion of checks into the code which will black gameplay on emulators.

Despite these promises of seamless integration, it should be noted that Denuvo is rather unpopular with many users who say that their PC software often makes games run worse and are worried that their Switch emulator protection tech may be the same. Many netizens have responded negatively to this news and taken to Twitter to speak out against it.

Good luck Switch owners, on PC this can significantly increase RAM usage and degrade CPU performance both of which the Switch can’t afford

“As with all other Denuvo solutions, this has no impact on the gaming experience”@Irdeto are bare faced liars with this statement https://t.co/tXyTCOjgPO

— Carl Lavery (@AVGN82) August 24, 2022

The irony is this will just lead to more people pirating switch games, since they’ll now have to download games online with this removed instead of ripping the files themselves.

You played yourselves.

— Mayonnaise Doctor (@Mayo_Doctor) August 24, 2022

How long until this punishes legitimate customers https://t.co/4X3apCcydZ

— Jon Cartwright (@JonComms) August 24, 2022

It should be noted that emulating games on PC is perfectly legal as long as you buy an official copy of the original game (downloading a pirated ROM is illegal).