In the world of video game piracy there exists an ongoing war between the built up defenses of games set in place by software companies and the pirates who must bring down those firewalls - commonly known as cracking the game. 

During a recent attempt to crack Just Cause 3, a highly demanded game in piracy forums, 3DM’s “cracking guy” Jun almost cracked himself. In her blog Phoenix writes:

I still believe that this game can be compromised. But according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world.”

The problem that 3DM is having with Just Cause 3 is the anti-tamper technology set in place by Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH, an Austrian-based company responsible for the protection of the game. The system used by the company - appropriately named Denuvo - is a tweaked version of the secondary encryption system that held off attacks on Dragon Age: Inquisition for nearly a month and has stood strong on FIFA 16 since its September release.

While the system will likely end up cracked in the long run, Phoenix’s statement stands: with the increase in protection, games may not be crackable in the future. As long as software like Denuvo is around, pirates’ lives continue to get harder.

No more pirated games by 2018 says cracking group   Just Cause 3 - 6No more pirated games by 2018 says cracking group   Just Cause 3 - 27