Denuvo Subpoenas Valve, Discord to Unmask DRM Cracker

A California federal judge has authorized Denuvo to force Valve, Discord, and Reddit to hand over user data tied to the pseudonym “Voices38,” escalating a legal campaign by the anti-piracy software maker to identify an anonymous coder who has been stripping its protections from major video game releases.

U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. approved nine revised subpoenas this month after rejecting an initial batch of 46 requests he deemed excessively broad, according to court records. The Irdeto-owned DRM maker had originally sought payment histories, financial transaction logs, login records, and comment archives across multiple platforms. Gilliam ruled those demands carried significant privacy implications and extended well beyond what was necessary to unmask the defendant in a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention lawsuit filed earlier this month.

The narrowed subpoenas target one Discord account, one Reddit profile, and seven Steam accounts. Denuvo’s lawyers are now seeking names, government-issued identification documents, email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses linked to those profiles.

For the gaming industry, the case tests how aggressively technology vendors can pursue anonymous reverse-engineers through U.S. courts. Denuvo’s anti-tamper software is licensed by major publishers and integrated into high-profile PC releases. When that protection is bypassed shortly after launch, publishers lose leverage over early digital sales, a window that generates a disproportionate share of revenue for new titles. Voices38 recently removed the technology from Doom: The Dark Ages and Resident Evil Requiem, releasing the latest cracked build just days ago despite the active litigation.

The legal strategy mirrors a playbook Denuvo has used before. Several years ago, the company pursued a cracker operating under the name Voksi, eventually forcing the individual into early retirement. Whether the current subpoenas will yield a real identity remains uncertain. Platform compliance varies, and users who rely on aliases or offshore infrastructure frequently evade disclosure orders entirely. Over the past few hours, Voices38 has reportedly deleted their official Reddit account, which served as a primary distribution channel for updates and releases.

Irdeto acquired Denuvo in 2018, expanding the Austrian-founded software’s reach within the broader digital media security market. DMCA Section 1201, the statute underlying the lawsuit, prohibits circumventing technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Courts have historically granted discovery requests in these cases when plaintiffs demonstrate a viable claim, though judges routinely restrict the scope to prevent fishing expeditions into unrelated user data.