Dragon Age: The Veilguard Does Not Have Any 3rd-Party DRM, Including Denuvo

Dragon Age: The Veilguard does not have third-party DRM of any kind, including Denuvo, Bioware has announced.

In a blog post, the EA-owned studio said its upcoming fantasy role-playing game lacks digital rights management (DRM) on any platform, which is sure to go down well with PC gamers.

But the lack of DRM has the knock-on effect of preventing Bioware from offering a preload period for PC players. Instead, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be downloadable and playable on launch day, 9am Pacific / 12noon Eastern / 5pm UK on October 31 on PC.

There is a preload period on console, however: Xbox Series X and S preload is already available, with PlayStation 5 preload going live at 9am Pacific / 12noon Eastern / 5pm UK on October 29.

Denuvo is a controversial system used by video game developers and publishers to stem the tide of video game piracy by, they hope, pushing back the release of cracked versions of their games by sometimes weeks, maybe months, and in some cases, indefinitely. From a publisher perspective, Denuvo helps to prevent lost sales and revenue it might have received if those who pirate a video game at launch would have otherwise bought it.

However, Denuvo is often criticized by PC gamers for potentially affecting video game performance and even reducing the life-span of solid-state drives (SSDs). Denuvo has repeatedly denied the claims. In 2021, the tech experts at Digital Foundry found the pirate version of Resident Evil Village actually improved performance. Capcom later patched the game.

BioWare has been on something of a charm offensive with PC gamers for the next Dragon Age. In July, it announced Dragon Age: The Veilguard is “Steam native,” which means the EA App is not required to play the game on Valve’s platform. Most EA-published video games do require the EA App, which replaced Origin in 2022, to play on Steam, much to the annoyance of many PC gamers.

This week, IGN reported on Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Trophy / Achievement list hitting the internet (beware of spoilers!). Earlier this month BioWare confirmed Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first game in the fantasy action role-playing game series not to feature spiders.

IGN has plenty more on Dragon Age: The Veilguard, including a deep-dive into its development, which is well worth a read if you want to know more about how BioWare realized the game. We’ve also got a lore deep-dive and everything you need to know about relationships and its steamiest romance.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.