Denuvo DRM Removed From DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined

Suggested Pre-read: voices38 cracks 007 First Light, but Denuvo managed to hold out a bit longer this time around.

Also suggest reading: We briefly discussed Denuvo’s ongoing troubles with the hypervisor bypass in a previous post.

DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined, as the name suggests, is a remake of the highly popular Japanese game that has gained cult status in the industry. Initially released in 2000, the game has already seen two remakes (the 3DS release in 2013/2016, and now in 2026).

All-Time Great

Based on data published by Famitsu (the industry-standard publication for tracking retail software and hardware sales metrics in Japan) in 2022, the initial PlayStation 1 release of DRAGON QUEST VII ranks as the second-best-selling PlayStation game in Japan.

DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined Initial Sales

It has done amazingly well, selling almost half a million copies in its first week alone, based on data supplied by Famitsu and published by Gematsu.

Source: Gematsu

Protection and Subsequent Removal

As mentioned above, this game has had two remakes over the years. The latest remake, DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined, released earlier this year on February 5, included the Irdeto supplied Denuvo DRM for protection. However, as is often the case with Denuvo, publishers generally use it to protect the initial release window and eventually decide to remove it after a few months. Now that this game has been on the market for almost six months, Square Enix has decided to remove the protection in their latest update published on July 31, 2026.

The snapshot below confirms the removal.