Following 24 hours of Denuvo-based backlash, Inzoi is taking a surprising step and removing it entirely: ‘We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations’

Yesterday, posts on the Inzoi subreddit surfaced, claiming that the full release is set to be packaged with anti-tamper software Denuvo.

The next 24 hours have seen the community in shambles, from subsequent posts claiming it was all rumours perpetuated by Sims pysops, to players announcing that the addition of Denuvo was a deal-breaker for them. Ultimately, many were simply frustrated that Krafton had failed to disclose its inclusion in any meaningful way.

After a healthy heaping of internet drama, director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim has finally emerged to declare that yep, Denuvo was certainly present, but will now be removed following the backlash. Taking to the game’s official Discord server, Kjun wrote “Recently, we’ve seen growing concern around the implementation of the Denuvo anti-tamper solution in Inzoi.

“While we wanted to respond as quickly as possible, we also felt it was important to approach the issue with care—consulting with teams from around the world to make a thoughtful and informed decision. We sincerely apologise for the delay in providing this official response.”

Now, the important part, Kjun revealed: “We have decided to remove Denuvo from the Early Access build of Inzoi.” The director goes on to explain that it was, obviously, included to try and prevent piracy, but “after taking a closer look at community feedback, we quickly realised that this approach did not align with what our players wanted.” The post continues by apologising for not also mentioning its inclusion in the demo, Creative Studio, which players have been getting stuck into since March 20.

“We understand that removing Denuvo increases the risk of the game being cracked and illegally distributed after release,” Kjun continued. “At the same time, we believe it opens up a valuable opportunity: it allows Inzoi to become more freely configurable—unlocking new ways for players to shape new experiences for other players. We believe enabling this freedom from the very beginning will lead to innovative and long-lasting enjoyment for the community.”

Kjun said the team will “continue to prioritize” community feedback, before one final sorry. “We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations on this sensitive issue,” he concluded. “We regret the concern and confusion this has caused within the community, and we’re committed to rebuilding your trust as we move forward in developing the best possible experience.”

Now it’s not exactly new for Denuvo to ruffle feathers—its inclusion is hardly ever appreciated by players, especially when it’s often accompanied by a slew of claims around performance nerfs, stutters, and always-online discourse—but it’s pretty new to see a developer responding to the outrage by pulling the software altogether.

Usually it gets unshackled anyway from six months to a year post-launch, but it’s nice to see Krafton clearly paying attention to issues the rapidly-growing community has. If anything, it feels like a pretty good indicator to me on how the developer will handle feedback across its early access period. If it can take everything the way it has this, then I have much higher hopes for the game’s future than I do for its present.