One Project Rene Feature is a Controversy Waiting to Happen

The Sims 4 has had an unusually long lifespan, and it appears Maxis isn’t ready to bid goodbye to it just yet. However, the world of The Sims will be expanding with the release of Project Rene. There are still plenty of questions surrounding the upcoming game, but official information has come at a frustratingly slow pace.

Some leaks claim to paint a clearer picture of what’s to come in Project Rene. Though this could be cause for excitement, it also comes with potential controversy, and it all has to do with the inclusion of Denuvo.

Project Rene Leaks Suggest the Upcoming Game Could Feature Denuvo

There have been multiple Project Rene leaks. Some came in 2022, and they featured gameplay from the upcoming title. The most recent Project Rene leak is the most notable, as it features a pre-release build of the PC and Android versions. If the leak is accurate, then the upcoming game is being built using Unreal Engine 5, as opposed to Frostbite which was used in the past.

At this point, there have been so many leaks that it’s hard to know what’s accurate and what’s a ruse. This time around, the leak seem relatively credible, though without any confirmation from Maxis or EA, it should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Why Denuvo is an Issue for Project Rene

Denuvo is a form of anti-tamper DRM that prevents games from being pirated. With enough effort and time, pirates eventually do break through the encryption sometimes, but the DRM halts illegal tampering during a game’s launch, which is when the bulk of its sales occur. Some titles, like Lies of P, launched with Denuvo before doing away with it after this period, possibly because it had served its purpose by then.

On the surface, it’d appear that there’s no reason to loathe the DRM, but Denuvo has earned itself a bad reputation. One of the biggest criticisms is that it affects the performance of games. There have been claims that this is the case for some games, including Tekken 7‘s producer Katsuhiro Harada, who blamed it for the game’s poor performance. Nevertheless, Denuvo has vehemently denied these accusations.

What are the Potential Consequences of Project Rene Featuring Denuvo?

Whether Denuvo affects performance or not is unclear, but it does come with the risk that it could leave The Sims 5 unplayable should its servers stop working, at least temporarily. This occurred in 2021 when an outage left a plethora of titles – some of them single-player such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider – unplayable for long enough to trigger outrage.

The situation is a bit of a complicated one for Project Rene. It is being marketed as a free-to-download game by EA, and Maxis hopes to make its money through the numerous DLCs that’ll be released. However, one of the reasons The Sims 4 has enjoyed such longevity is because of how easy it is for fans to create mods and their own content to spruce things up. Having anti-tamper DRM included may make this harder if Denuvo is in their path. At this point, fan-made content is such an integral part of The Sims community that anything that stands in the way of creators can only cause controversy.

Project Rene is still in early development and, as Maxis has explained, it will co-exist with other The Sims titles. So it shouldn’t be thought of as a sequel, and perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t seem as though The Sims 4 will be heading to its grave any time soon.

The Sims 4

The Sims 4 is the latest offering from Maxis and The Sims Studio, serving as a sequel to The Sims 3. Although it was released back in 2014, the game is still going strong today thanks to an array of DLC add-on packs that give players access to more unlockable items and events.

Released

September 2, 2014

Publisher(s)

Electronic Arts

Genre(s)

Simulation

ESRB

T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence

How Long To Beat

N/A

X|S Enhanced

No

File Size Xbox Series

22 GB (November 2023)

Metascore

70