Denuvo investigation reportedly leads to arrest for games pirate Voksi

Denuvo has taken legal action against one of its biggest critics, leading to the confiscation of his equipment and an alleged arrest.

The firm's target was an alleged cracker and pirate known as Voksi, who is believed to be responsible for the hacking of several games using Denuvo's Anti-Tamper software. A statement from Denuvo's parent company Irdeto, which acquired the firm earlier this year, says Voksi has been arrested by the Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit.

Irdeto claims to have carried out its own investigation and passed the details to the Bulgarian police, leading to a raid on Voksi's home in which "computers and other items suspected to have been used in the piracy of a range of titles were seized by police."

Irdeto's VP of cybersecurity services Mark Mulready said: "Piracy is a threat that is now firmly established in the gaming industry, and we are focused on securing the content of game publishers and ensuring that hackers cannot distort the gaming environment for personal gain at the expense of other players.

"The swift action of the Bulgarian police on this matter shows the power of collaboration between law enforcement and technology providers and that piracy is a serious offence that will be acted upon."

In Irdeto's statement, the Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit confirm that the 21-year-old man was arrested, his equipment confiscated, and that the investigation is ongoing.

However, in his own account via Reddit, Voksi claims he went to the police voluntarily.

"It finally happened, I can't say it wasn't expected, Denuvo filed a case against me to the bulgarian authorities," he wrote. "Police came yesterday and took the server pc and my personal PC. I had to go to the police afterwards and explain myself. Later that day I contacted Denuvo themselves and offered them a peacful [sic] resolution to this problem. They can't say anything for sure yet, but they said the final word is by the prosecutor of my case."

Voksi went on to encourage "someone else [to] continue my fight" against DRM, insisting "bloated software in our games shouldn't be allowed at all."

PC Gamer reports Voksi caused problems for Denuvo back in November 2017 when he claimed the company's DRM was straining CPUs in Assassin's Creed: Origins, which affected the game's performance.

It's not the first time Denuvo has been accused of slowing games down or preventing them from operating correctly with its protective software. Back in June, PC players claimed Rime's performance improved once the DRM has been removed, while Sega came under fire in August when it was claimed Denuvo blocked the online multiplayer.