Video game maker and publisher, Capcom, is at the heart of a new outburst on social media. The Japanese gaming giant has been accused of quietly installing DRM (Digital Rights Management) in its legacy titles. Fans have blamed the move for the sudden deterioration in performance of some of their old titles.
Developers often install DRM in their games to prevent the illegal distribution of the games. While this has worked, DRMs often hurt the game’s performance. It is believed that the DRM utilized by Capcom is the Enigma Protector which strictly restricts the modding of games and the use of the Cheat Engine program.
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“I decided to #RejectCapcomDRM by leaving negative reviews [on] all Capcom games in my library until they walk it back,” wrote @SavedAClickFGC, a handle summarizing news about fighting games. “I encourage everyone else to do the same with the hashtag above. An optional idea is to remove Capcom games from your wishlist.”
In addition to preventing modding, it was alleged that the Enigma Protector also lowers performance by as much as 10 to 15 fps. Players have reported increasing stutter since the addition of the DRM. Ironically, pirated copies of games have suddenly started outperforming the legitimately purchased copies.
The Capcom game at the center of the entire controversy is Resident Evil Revelations which was released in 2012. The game has enjoyed positive reviews. However, at the time of writing this post, the review has begun to drop, arguably a response from gamers to the DRM issue.
Capcom allegedly targeting videos featuring mods on YouTube
Capcom appears to have a renewed anti-modding stance which may have something to do with the unclad Chun-Li mod that accidentally made it to a major Street Fighter 6 tournament last year. The incident was considered an embarrassment to Capcom.
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Two decades ago, having a nude character in a video game may not have raised too many eyebrows—although many still found it distasteful. However, in the era of video games where characters are 3D scans of live models, having modders strip the clothes off the character can have severe moral and legal consequences.
Since there is currently no way to limit what modders can do with games, the best solution around it is to stop them from modding games altogether. At least, that is the impression we can read from Capcom’s crackdown on mods.
Besides adding the Enigma Protector, it is also widely reported that Capcom is going after games with mod content. PC_Focus (@PC_Focus_) run by a group of Russian modders shared a screenshot on X alleging that Capcom started targeting channels for mod usage weeks ago.
“Hey Guys, this is a frightening moment for MH speedrunners on PC and MH YouTubers who have been using mods for their videos,” began a lengthy message from Team Darkside. “Capcom Japan’s legal team is going after Sunbreak videos on YouTube which feature any kind of mod and issue takedown requests and copyright strikes. We also received a copyright strike. With 3 strikes your channel gets deleted.”
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Although Capcom removed Denuvo DRM from Resident Evil Village after backlash for performance issues, the company suggested they would work with Denuvo to create a proprietary DRM for their games. Capcom is yet to comment on the outburst officially. The recent backlash highlights the delicate balance between intellectual rights protection and ensuring optimal gaming performance/experience.
However, the biggest question is why Capcom is willing to spend huge sums of money to protect a decade-old title. Although reports of Enigma Protector blocking mods are rife on Steam community forums, we cannot verify the claims at this time. Also, the motivation for doing so for a decade-old game is incomprehensible.
