Chinese piracy group 3DM has announced that it will suspend its cracking operations for a year. This announcement was made by 3DM's head Bird Sister in her personal blog.
According to Kotaku, Bird Sister mentioned that 3DM had an internal meeting where they decided to suspend cracking single-player games since Chinese New Year, which began in Feb. 8.
Bird Sister (sometimes referred as Phoenix) mentions that they are suspending their cracking operations to review impact of piracy on sales of their video games. It is said that they will review this decision next year if genuine sales have grown. Kotaku hails this decision as a piracy team contributing to a legitimate video game industry.
However, this announcement to suspend piracy may have been caused by the fact that PC games have become harder to crack over years. Torrent Freak cites an earlier comment by Bird Sister where she had mentioned that anti-piracy technology was becoming very strong. It had become tougher to crack games, and in two years, piracy may become obsolete altogether.
Such comments followed after 3DM's experience with Denuvo. Torrent Freak reported that Denuvo is an anti-tamper technology developed by Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH. It acts as secondary encryption system protecting underlying products.
Hardcore Gamer reported that Denuvo has been used in games like "Just Cause 3" and "Dragon Age: Inquisition." 3DM took a month to crack "Dragon Age: Inquisition," and it has still not been able to crack "Just Cause 3."
Though 3DM will suspend cracking operations of their own, cracks by overseas warez groups can be posted on their forum. According to Hardcore Gamer, it is as of yet unclear how 3DM will deal with these posts, and whether cracks by other groups shall be banned on its website.
3DM's announcement has disappointed many gaming enthusiasts. Nevertheless, 3DM's one-year leave from piracy holds significance for online piracy and video game industry.