Publisher Electronic Arts and developer BioWare revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will not have any third-party DRM software and will not let players preload the game on PC.
The developers revealed the news in a recent blog post, saying that the upcoming RPG will not have anything like Denuvo on any platform. This was also where BioWare shared the full system requirements for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
A Lack of DRM Software
BioWare said that the game does not have any form of DRM, which means that there will be no preload period for PC players. They will instead have to wait for the global launch to be able to download the game, which is on Oct. 31, 2024.
Digital rights management software (DRM) is intended to make it much more difficult for players to crack games and share them online for free.
The software has historically been far more effective at preventing pirates from hacking games than other forms of protection, according to Games Radar.
Despite this, the exact effects of DRM software usually vary from game to game. However, there have been sufficient reports of degraded performance for the software to become infamous among PC players.
The announcement that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will not have any form of DRM software seems to be BioWare's PR strategy for the PC players of the fanbase. Project director Mike Gamble posted on X, saying, "We trust you."
It has been a common sight for publishers to remove Denuvo after a game no longer has any big sales. The decision is also made when piracy is a much less pressing concern for a particular title, PCGamer said.
No Preload Period for PC
One example of this is when Electronic Arts removed Denuvo from Star Wars: Jedi Survivor in September 2024. However, the decision not to include any form of DRM software is quite surprising for studios.
The release of the full system requirements for Dragon Age: The Veilguard also gave a lot of fans good news. It showed that they wouldn't need to have extremely powerful setups to be able to play the game.
Electronic Arts said that players who have high-end setups can take advantage of their suite of Ray Tracing features and uncapped frame rates.
The studio added that they focused on making the game as accessible to as many people as possible with the minimum requirements.
The lack of DRM software also coincides with developer BioWare's promise to players that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be playable completely offline. This is unlike many other modern game releases, according to The Gamer.
