Anti-piracy technology provider Denuvo has taken its legal battle against digital piracy a step further, asking a California federal court for permission to issue subpoenas to major digital platforms including Discord, Valve, and Reddit. The company is hoping to unmask the anonymous game cracker known as "voices38," a figure who has posed a significant challenge to modern video game security by bypassing Denuvo’s notoriously difficult Anti-Tamper digital rights management software.
Last month, Denuvo—a subsidiary of security firm Irdeto—filed a high-profile Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention lawsuit against the elusive individual at a federal court in California. The legal action accuses the anonymous cracker of successfully stripping away Denuvo’s protective layers from a staggering 26 high-profile computer and video games. Among the titles listed in the legal complaint are major commercial successes and blockbuster releases such as Hogwarts Legacy and Black Myth: Wukong.
For now, the anti-piracy firm finds itself in a challenging procedural position: it does not yet know the legal identity of the individual it is suing. When the initial complaint was filed in court, it listed several digital identifiers tied to the suspect, including a Discord user ID, a Reddit account, and seven distinct Steam profiles, but no real-world name or physical address. As the legal proceedings unfold, Denuvo is hoping to change that lack of clarity with the direct assistance of the federal court, seeking to pierce the veil of online anonymity that protects the defendant.
In a recent court filing, Denuvo formally requested permission from the presiding judge to serve targeted subpoenas on the three technology platforms ahead of the standard and regular discovery phase. This early maneuver is designed to capture digital breadcrumbs and account records that could definitively link the pseudonymous online handles to a real person before any data can be deleted, altered, or lost.
Subpoenas for Discord, Valve, and Reddit
In its ex parte motion submitted to the court, Denuvo explains that it initially reached out to Discord, Valve, and Reddit directly to request user information, but those outreach efforts yielded no practical results. According to the filing, representatives from Valve and Reddit declined to hand over requested records voluntarily, citing internal privacy policies and legal limitations that prevent them from sharing customer or user data without a formal court order or subpoena. Meanwhile, Discord reportedly did not respond to Denuvo’s inquiries at all, leaving formal legal compulsion as the only remaining pathway.
"Denuvo seeks leave of the Court to serve limited discovery on Discord, Inc., Valve Corporation, and Reddit, Inc. solely to determine Defendant’s true identity," the motion reads, emphasizing that the requested information is narrowly tailored to unmasking the defendant rather than embarking on a broad fishing expedition.
The text of the proposed subpoenas outlines the exact categories of data Denuvo is hoping to extract from each platform. From Valve, the operator of the dominant Steam digital distribution platform, the company is requesting core registration data, legal names, and billing addresses associated with seven specific Steam user accounts identified in the investigation.
Intriguingly, one of the seven Steam profiles highlighted in the court documents utilizes the name Enzo Favara, which corresponds directly to the main character of Mafia: The Old Country. That particular title happens to be one of the games that Denuvo explicitly alleges was successfully cracked by "voices38."
Beyond basic registration details, Denuvo’s proposed subpoena to Valve also requests payment methods, transaction histories, associated IP addresses complete with exact timestamps, hardware device identifiers, and any other user accounts linked to those profiles. While the seven Steam profiles in question do not exhibit a high volume of general public activity, Denuvo’s investigators have evidently connected them to the broader ecosystem of cracking activities attributed to the "voices38" persona.
The proposed subpoenas directed at Discord and Reddit similarly target deep account-level information. Denuvo is asking Discord to supply comprehensive server membership logs and specific administrative or user roles assigned within those communities. Reddit, on the other hand, is requested to produce a complete archive of all posts and public comments authored by the account in question, alongside a detailed breakdown of the account’s subreddit memberships and subscriptions.
Crypto Transactions on FixedFloat
Beyond the platform-specific data requests, the newly submitted legal motion sheds light on additional investigative avenues pursued by Denuvo’s legal and technical teams, revealing that the company’s inquiry extended far beyond mainstream gaming and social platforms.
In a formal declaration filed alongside the motion, attorney Ryan Morris disclosed that Denuvo’s investigators uncovered a series of cryptocurrency transactions linked to the cracker on FixedFloat, an automated digital asset exchange platform. The declaration notes that these cryptocurrency transfers involved popular digital currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, pointing toward potential financial flows connected to the illicit cracking operation or associated underground communities.
However, the publicly available declaration does not elaborate on the exact methodology Denuvo used to tie these specific cryptocurrency transactions to the "voices38" handle, nor does it explicitly state whether the blockchain data provides any direct clues regarding the true identity or physical location of the person operating the accounts.
FixedFloat is widely known as an instant cryptocurrency exchange service that heavily promotes its platform as a streamlined, hassle-free option featuring "no registration and unnecessary details." Despite calling out the exchange by name within the legal filings, Denuvo’s current motion does not ask the court for permission to issue a subpoena directly to FixedFloat, and the documents offer no explanation as to why the crypto platform was omitted from the immediate discovery request.
What’s Next for the Case
The immediate procedural next step rests in the hands of U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr., who will ultimately decide whether Denuvo is legally permitted to serve its expedited subpoenas on Discord, Valve, and Reddit. If the judge grants the motion, the companies will be legally compelled to turn over the requested records, potentially giving Denuvo the breakthrough it needs to amend its complaint and name a real defendant.
In the meantime, the ripple effects of the lawsuit are already being felt across the wider digital piracy landscape. Late last month, industry reports indicated that DenuvOwO—a prominent cracking group responsible for releasing hypervisor bypasses for dozens of games protected by Denuvo—had officially disbanded. A member of the group reportedly cited the ongoing legal pressure and potential liability as major concerns behind the decision, while popular piracy and cracking forums such as CS.Rin took steps to purge links pointing to the group’s software releases.
When Denuvo’s initial lawsuit was first made public, the target of the legal action appeared unfazed by the mounting pressure. Shortly after news of the complaint broke across technology and gaming media outlets, "voices38" posted a brief public message on Reddit dismissing the gravity of the situation, writing, "All is fine. Everything will continue as normal."
Since that initial defiant statement, however, no new software releases or cracking updates associated with the "voices38" handle have appeared online. Whether this sudden silence is a direct consequence of the escalating legal action, heightened caution, or unrelated circumstances remains entirely unconfirmed. The ultimate outcome of the litigation and the validity of Denuvo’s investigative leads will depend heavily on how the federal court rules on the pending discovery requests.
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