Well… It was pretty obvious from the start when SEGA announced that, they would be using Denuvo anti-tamper tech,a lot of PC gamers got frustrated, especially since this was not indicated on the game’s Steam store page prior to its release. And while SEGA has not removed this anti-tamper tech from its title, pirates unfortunately have cracked the game.
Currently, The pirated version of Sonic Mania is the definitive version, the Definitive version packs all the fixes and updates that the official version currently features, allows offline mode, and is not plagued by the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. And that really sucks for all legitimate owners of the game.
This still rises a question whether or not SEGA will remove the Denuvo anti-tamper tech now that the game has been cracked. It’s worth pointing out that the Sonic Mania team had no say in the implementation of the Denuvo anti-tamper tech.
As Denuvo has become an enemy of the PC gaming community, with many making it a point to remove it from games almost as soon as they launch. While many continue to argue the case for it affecting the performance of games, in reality Denuvo’s implementation is a measurement to prevent piracy, though it’s one that is becoming increasingly fruitless. Most recently, games such as Mass Effect: Andromeda, DOOM and Hitman have been cracked and had the anti-tamper tech removed by pirates.