It's fair to say that the majority of gamers are probably not keen on DRM, but it's something that players has learned to live with as some sort of necessary evil. Studios and publishers obviously have a vested interested in protecting their IPs, but that doesn't mean the fan base is happy about it, especially when it comes to causing issues. The Denuvo anti-cheat software is notoriously controversial, often being the culprit in many new releases running less than optimally. Unfortunately, it's been confirmed that Dying Light 2: Stay Human will feature the DRM tech.
At the eleventh hour of the game being released, a spokesperson for Techland, the studio behind the upcoming Dying Light 2, has stated that the game will ship with Denuvo. In a post on the Steam forums, a user uploaded a screenshot from Imgur, which showed a reply from the developer to an inquisitive user which clearly states that it will be using the anti-piracy software. Since then, the Steam page for the game itself does show that it does incorporate "3rd-party DRM," which is bound to be disappointing to some fans.
For those who are perhaps out of the loop, the reason some may be upset about Denuvo being included in the game is down to numerous instances in the past in which games have been known to run poorly, with lower framerates. Titles such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have since removed Denuvo, as have the likes of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Crysis Remastered. All developers involved updated their releases after the fact, which eventually removed the anti-piracy software. Whether this is something that Techland will do with Dying Light 2 remains to be seen.
With Ubisoft saying that other third-party software is what causes PC stuttering, rather than Denuvo, it looks as though some are keen to keep it in circulation, particularly for AAA releases. Not to mention the studios that make the games themselves are keen to make sure their product isn't pirated. A response on the Steam forum discussion says that "over fifteen hundred people" have spent a lot of time and effort making the game, and that including Denuvo is a way to off-set the piracy issues that the first game had.
As for the game itself, Dying Light 2 will be releasing in a couple of days, with PC and console owners being able to preload it. Although first announced at E3 2018, the game would eventually delayed in the early parts of 2020. Given that, fans have been eagerly awaiting its release, and it's likely that having DRM won't deter many people from playing, unless it does cause issues.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human releases February 4, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. A Switch version is also scheduled.
Source: Steam forums, Imgur (email screenshot), Dying Light Steam page
