Anti-piracy firm Denuvo has asked a California federal court for permission to issue subpoenas to major digital platforms including Discord, Valve, and Reddit as part of an ongoing legal effort to unmask the anonymous game cracker known as "voices38." The company, owned by Irdeto, is pressing forward with its legal strategy following a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention lawsuit filed last month. In its latest court filings, the firm is seeking specific account details, IP addresses, and transaction histories tied to a Discord user ID, a Reddit account, and seven distinct Steam profiles. Furthermore, the newly surfaced court documents reveal that Denuvo’s private investigations have uncovered cryptocurrency transactions linked to the cracker on the exchange platform FixedFloat, signaling a broader and more technical approach to identifying the individual behind the handle.
The underlying legal battle began last month when Denuvo launched a federal lawsuit in California targeting the anonymous figure designated as "voices38." In its initial complaint, the anti-tamper security provider accused the defendant of aggressively bypassing its protection mechanisms across a massive library of 26 prominent PC titles. Among the high-profile games listed in the legal action are industry blockbusters such as Hogwarts Legacy and Black Myth: Wukong, which represent significant financial investments for publishers and developers alike. Denuvo’s anti-tamper software is designed to protect games from unauthorized access and piracy, particularly during their critical launch windows when sales are typically highest.
At the time the initial lawsuit was filed, Denuvo found itself facing a common hurdle in modern digital litigation: it did not know the legal identity of the person it was suing. While the original complaint meticulously detailed a Discord user ID, a specific Reddit profile, and seven Steam profiles, it lacked a real name or physical address for the defendant. To bridge this gap, Denuvo is now asking the federal court for judicial intervention, seeking permission to serve targeted subpoenas before the official discovery phase of the lawsuit normally commences. By obtaining this preliminary data, the company hopes to pierce the veil of online anonymity and finally uncover who is operating behind the "voices38" pseudonym.
In an ex parte motion filed with the court, Denuvo outlined its prior attempts to gather information voluntarily from the tech companies involved. According to the filing, representatives reached out directly to Discord, Valve, and Reddit to request identifying details associated with the accounts in question, but those efforts proved unsuccessful. Valve and Reddit reportedly declined to cooperate without a formal court order, citing their internal privacy policies and legal obligations to protect user data. Meanwhile, Discord allegedly failed to respond to the inquiries altogether. Left with few other options, Denuvo determined that formal subpoenas issued through the federal court system represented the necessary next step to advance the litigation.
The legal motion clearly defines the scope of the information Denuvo hopes to extract from each platform. For Valve Corporation, the proposed subpoena requests comprehensive registration data, legal names, and billing addresses tied to the seven Steam user accounts identified in the complaint. One of the specific Steam profiles highlighted in the court documents notably utilizes the name Enzo Favara, a direct reference to the main character of Mafia: The Old Country, which happens to be one of the titles Denuvo alleges voices38 successfully cracked. Beyond basic registration details, the proposed valve subpoena asks for historical payment methods, detailed transaction logs, IP addresses accompanied by precise timestamps, associated device identifiers, and any other accounts linked to those profiles. Although the seven Steam profiles appear to have relatively low overall activity levels, Denuvo maintains that they are intricately connected to the broader cracking operations attributed to the defendant.
The requests directed at Discord and Reddit are similarly comprehensive in nature. For Discord, Denuvo is seeking complete user account information, including a detailed log of the various servers the target account has joined, along with the specific roles and permissions assigned within those communities. For Reddit, the proposed subpoena asks the platform to produce every public post and comment authored by the "voices38" account, as well as a full accounting of the subreddits the account has maintained memberships in. Together, these data points are intended to help investigators map out the digital footprint of the cracker across multiple social and gaming ecosystems.
Beyond the platform subpoenas, the newly released court filings shed light on additional investigative tracks pursued by Denuvo’s legal and technical teams. In a declaration submitted alongside the motion, attorney Ryan Morris revealed that the company’s independent tracking efforts extended far beyond traditional social media and gaming platforms. Investigators reportedly uncovered cryptocurrency transactions executed by the cracker on FixedFloat, an instant crypto exchange service. According to the documents, these blockchain transactions involve prominent digital currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
While the declaration explicitly names FixedFloat, it remains notable for what it leaves unsaid. The court filing does not explain the precise technical methodology Denuvo used to link these specific cryptocurrency transactions to the "voices38" persona. Furthermore, the documents do not explicitly state whether the blockchain data has yielded direct clues regarding the real-world identity of the person behind the pseudonym. FixedFloat itself is widely known within the digital asset community as an instant exchange that promotes a hassle-free user experience, emphasizing a lack of mandatory registration requirements and an absence of unnecessary personal details. Despite highlighting the platform in the declaration, Denuvo has not formally requested a subpoena for FixedFloat at this stage, and the court filings offer no explanation for that omission.
The immediate next steps in the legal process now rest in the hands of U.S. Magistrate Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr., who must evaluate the ex parte motion and decide whether to grant Denuvo permission to issue the expedited subpoenas to Discord, Valve, and Reddit. If the court approves the request, the tech companies will be legally compelled to turn over the requested user data, which could ultimately lead to the identification and service of a summons to the real person behind the "voices38" handle.
Meanwhile, the ripples of Denuvo’s aggressive legal action are already being felt across the wider digital piracy landscape. Late last month, industry reports indicated that DenuvOwO—a prominent cracking collective that had previously released hypervisor bypasses for numerous Denuvo-protected games—had abruptly disbanded. Sources close to the community suggested that the legal pressure and potential threat of litigation from Irdeto had a clear chilling effect on the group’s members. In response to the shifting legal climate, major piracy discussion hubs such as the CS.Rin forum reportedly purged links associated with the group’s software releases, reflecting a growing caution within illicit software circles.
When the initial lawsuit was first made public, the target of Denuvo’s legal action appeared unfazed by the developments. Shortly after the news broke across various media outlets, the user posting as voices38 took to Reddit to downplay the significance of the complaint, writing, "All is fine. Everything will continue as normal." However, in the weeks following that defiant public statement, no new software releases or cracking updates associated with the "voices38" moniker have appeared online. Whether this sudden quietude is a direct result of the ongoing lawsuit, a tactical retreat, or entirely coincidental remains unknown as the legal proceedings continue to unfold in federal court.
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