Having caused a storm earlier in the week by stealthily starting to add DRM to its back catalog of games, seemingly to prevent them from being played with mods included but instead causing massive performance hits, Japanese gaming giant Capcom has now removed the offending software update and put games such as Resident Evil Revelations back to normal.

This is in no small part down to gamers review-bombing the living daylights out of the game on Steam causing the 10-year-old game’s rating to plummet. Also, negative press coverage will have ensured Capcom had a difficult choice to make.

Posting on Steam Capcom said, ”Due to an issue observed with the latest update released, we have reverted the corresponding update.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused, and once the issue is resolved, we will re-release the update. Thank you very much for your patience and cooperation”. With no mention of what the issue was or timeline as to when the update will be re-released, presumably without Enigma DRM, unless it can be fixed this is a tail between the legs moment for Capcom, who notoriously dislike the modding community and believe that the PC is a haven for rampant piracy.

Earlier today PCGamesN reported that a post on the Enigma forums from disgruntled Steam players had been met with a since removed response stating. “Curious, what action do you need from us? And why do you blame us that someone uses our software? Someone uses, we do not push to use it. What is our guilt you think? And why are you so sure that all that you reported belongs to our software? Maybe you are so angered because you can’t use the cheats anymore?”

It is unlikely the review bombing of older games will change Capcom’s stance on DRM and modding in general which it sees as cheating so we expect the DRM to return in a more optimized form.

This story may not yet be over.

Featured Image: Capcom

Paul McNally

Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X at @Iampaulmcnally

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