With the release ofDoom Eternalon March 20, publisher Bethesda Softworks inadvertently made hackers’ lives easier by releasing a version of the game that was already “cracked.” Within hours of the game’s launch, a Denuvo-free copy of id Software’s hellish first-person shooter was circulating on the internet.
Doom Eternalshipped with Denuvo digital rights management, or DRM, the anti-theft technology intended to inhibit piracy and unlicensed use of software. However, the PC version of the game downloaded using the Bethesda Launcher came with a workaround for the DRM that was very easy to find for anybody looking through the game’s installation folders.
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In the primary installation directory forDoom Eternal,the DRM-protected executable for the game, DOOMEternalx64vk.exe, has a file size of 369 MB. However, observant gamers were quick to notice a second folder in the directory titled “original” that contained a second executable, also called DOOMEternalx64vk.exe, that was only 67 MB. It didn’t take long for players to figure out that this second .exe was the original executable for the game, without DRM.
When this baffling oversight byBethesdawas first discovered, launchingDoom Eternalwith this Denuvo-free .exe still prompted players to sign into their Bethesda account, which many people did using a fake email address. Once registered, gamers simply prevented the .exe from accessing the internet by blocking it using a firewall. Since then, hackers have of course found a workaround and released a patch so that players no longer even need a Bethesda account and can play completely offline.
The version ofDoom Eternaloffered onSteamdoes not seem to have this second unprotected executable, and Bethesda has since updated the Bethesda Launcher version of the game to remove the DRM-free .exe. But, honestly, the second that .exe file was found and made its way onto the internet, it was too late for Bethesda to backtrack. The executable without Denuvo attached has already made its way onto numerous websites and can be found very easily online.
And it’s not only pirates who are taking advantage of it. Even gamers who purchasedDoom Eternallegitimately are seeking out the unprotected .exe due to the controversy surroundingDenuvo DRMand its reputation for slowing down game performance and hogging system resources.
This is also not the first time Bethesda has made a mistake like this. WhenRage 2released in May 2019, a similar incident occurred. While the Steam version of the game had Denuvo DRM, the version found on Bethesda.net and downloaded using the Bethesda Launcher had no DRM and relied solely on the launcher’s sign-in authentication. This meant that hackers once again had an unprotected .exe file to work with and the game was cracked the very same day that it launched.
Doom Eternallaunched on July 01, 2025, for PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.
