‘Doom Eternal’ Gets Massive Backlash Over Latest Update

“Doom Eternal” brought chaos to itself after its latest update that irked fans.

The popular first-person shooter received its so-called Update 1 on Thursday, rolling out new features and contents such as “Empowered Demons” and “BATTLEMODE Enhancements.” However, while the game remains as good as ever, fans couldn’t help but vent out their frustrations about another key change to the game.

Apparently, in the said update, publisher Bethesda and developer id Software included the Denuvo Anti-Cheat system. The said system aims to prevent cheating in games, particularly in multiplayer modes.

Nonetheless, what angers “Doom Eternal” fans is the fact that Denuvo Anti-Cheat automatically installs a kernel-mode driver that starts when the game is played and stops when it is not. Since a kernel-mode driver is at the core of the PC’s operating system, it poses some security risks for gamers.

While Irdeto – the company who developed Denuvo Anti-Cheat – assured that the system “does not take screenshots, scan file system or stream shellcode from the internet,” it still did not stop “Doom Eternal” fans from criticizing Bethesda and id Software.

On Twitter and on the review section of the game’s Steam listing, a lot of players called out the publisher and developer for forcing them to install what they call a “spyware.”

“Latest update forces you to install Denuvo Anti-Cheat, an extremely dodgy always-on Windows Service with full access to your PC. Many anti-virus programs quite rightly detect it as a virus,” one frustrated fan wrote on Steam.

“You cannot play the game, even in single-player, without installing it. Since I refuse to allow that on my PC, the update has effectively locked me out of a game I'd just recently bought.”

While cheating certainly has no room in gaming, it is definitely not easy to come up with a single solution for all gamers. Some games lean on a less invasive approach by targeting cheaters, but it is not fool-proof as some cheaters could still go undetected.

Meanwhile, like what “Doom Eternal” did, using an anti-cheat system can fully protect players from cheaters. Unfortunately, it comes with risks that could spell trouble for the players and their own personal computers.

It is still unknown how “Doom Eternal” will respond to the wave of criticisms. After all, it could very well see a massive drop on its player base if the problem won’t be addressed soon.