Irdeto, the company behind the controversial Denuvo DRM utilized in many PC games, just announced a new technology meant to combat game content leaks in the video game industry.
Called TraceMark for Gaming, Irdeto describes the technology as a “watermarking solution” that adds visible and invisible identifiers to game content and can trace leaked content to its source. It’s something the company already uses to watermark movies, sports broadcasts, and TV shows. Irdeto believes that the risk of having the leak traced to them will deter people from leaking game content when they’re playing a playtest, closed beta, or review build of a game.
Hacks and leaks at video game companies have been a dire issue over the last couple of years. It hasn’t been uncommon for people to break non-disclosure agreements and share early footage of games like skate. online when they’re not supposed to. In September 2022, hacks resulted in a lot of content from Grand Theft Auto VI being leaked online, spoiling a game over a year before its official reveal. Then, in December 2023, Insomniac Games was hacked, and in-development content for Marvel’s Wolverine, canceled projects, and future games from the Sony-owned studio were shared online.
TraceMark seems like it’ll be less effective at preventing hacks at that level, but is a deterrent that developers can use when they send out early builds of games to players remotely. As such, a technology like TraceMark might be appealing to video game developers. However, Irdeto and Denuvo have a negative reputation with gamers because Denuvo impacts the performance of games on PC.
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