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News hardware & software 05 November 2021, 20:52

Denuvo Causes Trouble on Intel Alder Lake CPUs; 32 Games Affected

Yesterday's launch of Intel Alder Lake CPUs was not without controversy. Information was confirmed that the chips do not work well with 32 games (including AC: Valhalla, Far Cry Primal and Mortal Kombat 11) running on Windows 10 and 11. The main problems are caused by Denuvo DRM solution.

Intel's boss announced in his confidence that the new Alder Lake CPUs will dominate the market, leaving AMD far behind, but yesterday's launch of these chips was overshadowed by a some controversy. When they hit the hands of testers, it was confirmed that as many as 32 games are not compatible with them - regardless of whether they run on Windows 10 or 11. The problem was quickly examined and it seems that Denuvo - the (un)popular DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection - is to blame.

According to experts, the hybrid architecture of Intel's processors - which have two types of cores: Efficient and Performance - creates problems in games that contain this anti-piracy software. Intel has published the list of affected titles - including games such as Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Odyssey and Origins, Far Cry Primal, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, Mortal Kombat 11 or Immortals: Fenyx Rising. You can find the complete list here.

Interestingly, games that are currently incompatible with Alder Lake processors vary depending on the OS you want to run them on. Titles ranging from Anthem to Maneater cause problems on both Windows 10 and 11 (the games whose titles are in bold are to be fixed in mid-November, when an update to the latest version of Microsoft's OS will launch). In turn, the second list - starting with Ace Combat 7, and ending with Wolfenstein: Youngblood - applies only to Windows 10.

So it looks like Intel will have to hold off the celebration of its dominance over AMD for a bit. However, we should not judge the 12th generation of Intel processors based on a slip-up due to teething problems and it is worth waiting for detailed tests of these chips.

Hubert Sledziewski

Hubert Sledziewski

Has been writing professionally since 2016. He joined Gamepressure.com five years later - although he has known the service since he had access to the internet - to combine his love for words and games. Deals mainly with news and journalism. A sociologist by education, a gamer by passion. He started his gaming adventure at the age of four - with a Pegasus. Currently, prefers PC and demanding RPGs, but does not shy away from consoles or other genres. When he's not playing or writing, he enjoys reading, watching series (less often movies) and Premier League matches, listening to heavy music, and also walking the dog. Almost uncritically loves the work of Stephen King. Does not abandon plans to follow in his footsteps. However, he keeps his first "literary achievements" locked away deep in a drawer.

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