Sonic Mania on PC has Denuvo DRM resulting in fans throwing their digital toys out of the pram

Update, August 31: Sega has issued a fix to Sonic Mania which allows the game to be played offline, it addressed the issues that had been the cause of consternation, tears and fury. Which is nice. 

Sega also said that, ‘the fix is now being tested by SEGA QA to ensure it is working properly and we’ll let you know when it will be implemented via our social channels ASAP. We’ve looked into the DRM complaints and can confirm this was not the cause of the problem.,’ it has expanded on the issue with a long post on its Facebook page. 

Original Story, August 30: Sonic Mania came out yesterday on PC, and it has had fans up in arms because has Denuvo DRM. This requires the player be connected to the internet when they start up the game. Sega, for some reason, had declined to mention this before release and as a result the game is receiving a bit of a hammering in Steam reviews.

Sega recently posted an update to the Sonic Mania Steam page making reference to the use of DRM in the game, writing that, ‘Like you, we’ve noticed an error in the Steam store not mentioning the DRM for Sonic Mania. We’re fixing that now’. Sega also stated in the update that, ‘Sonic Mania is intended to be played offline and we’re investigating reports on that’.

Naturally some people reacted to the news of DRM implementation in a manner you can expect only from the internet.

‘Boycott the game until the DRM is removed’ said one Steam user. Then there was the absolute gem, ‘SHAME ON YOU, SEGA. I used to love you but I hope this decision buries you’ from another Steam user. 

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and it’s not unheard of for developers to remove Denuvo DRM after the launch of a game, presumably after the initial threat of rampant piracy dies down, or in other instances where the DRM is cracked (which has happened alarmingly quickly for some games using Denuvo).