271MB saved as Octopath Traveler 0 removes D encryption

Square Enix quietly pushed an update for Octopath Traveler 0 on Steam on May 27, 2026, officially removing the game's Denuvo anti-tamper protection. The change reduced the installation footprint by 271MB—a tangible win for players running SSDs with limited capacity. The timing is far from coincidental: the game had already been cracked through a virtual machine workaround, rendering the DRM's protective function essentially moot. This is a pragmatic call by Square Enix—continuing to fund a beaten system makes no sense when those resources could improve user experience directly.

The decision fits a broader pattern in Square Enix's product thinking. The original Octopath Traveler titles shipped with persistent online verification, and the community response was less than warm. Since then, the company has been quietly recalibrating its approach, and removing Denuvo here is a clear signal of that shift. For anyone who's worked in game development, the performance hit from DRM on frame pacing and load times is consistently underestimated in design docs and consistently blamed on GPU drivers in practice. Square Enix is cutting its losses and re-evaluating where its competitive edge actually lies.

By contrast, Valve's simultaneous push of the Steam Machine console has stumbled into a different kind of trap. The official advertising assets featured a female character model that sparked a "political correctness" debate in overseas communities, with players publicly stating they'd abandon purchase plans upon seeing the imagery. A branding misstep like this is far harder to repair than any technical optimization issue.

Elsewhere, Square Enix is playing the long game with the Dragon Quest franchise, which turns 40 this year. A commemorative illustration went public today, with a special broadcast scheduled for 9 PM tonight—low-cost goodwill that costs nothing in storage space.

Across the industry, CD Projekt's REDlauncher has surfaced what appears to be a new DLC entry titled "Piesni Przeszlosci" (Songs of the Past), listed for a 2027 release. If real, this likely points to new content for The Witcher 3, with timing that could coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Blood and Wine expansion. Industry insiders Residence of Evil and Dusk Golem have already picked up the trail, suggesting Capcom may have its own announcements lined up for this summer's showcase season.