Handball 17 Cracked

Submission 2,487

Part of a series on Denuvo. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Handball 17 Cracked refers to reports that the 2016 Nacon video game Handball 17, which uses Denuvo anti-piracy software, was cracked. The discussions began spreading on social media on April 3rd, 2024, resulting in posts and memes ironically celebrating the cracking as an achievement. Prior to the game's anti-piracy tools being cracked, Handball 17's uncracked status and use of Denuvo in general inspired memes in cracking and piracy communities due to how bad and undesired the game purportedly is, with many of the memes focusing on the idea that nobody is interested in the game, therefore nobody has tried to crack it, as well as how expensive it is to use Denuvo in contrast to how few people have bought the game.

Background

On November 11th, 2016, Handball 17 was released by Nacon. The game uses Denuvo anti-piracy software, which is considered by many as difficult to crack, to protect it from being pirated.^[1] While many Denuvo games have been cracked, Handball 17 continued to go untracked by the piracy community between 2016 and 2024, continually appearing on "uncracked Denuvo game" posts on subreddits like /r/CrackWatch.^[2]^[3]

The game's uncracked status became an inside joke in piracy communities throughout the mid-to-late 2010s. On February 24th, 2018, u/Kers_ made a post to /r/CrackWatch^[4] sharing the game's still-uncracked status, writing, "Denuvo has won… we have lost," garnering over 1,500 upvotes in six years (shown below).

On May 19th, a Redditor made a post to /r/CrackSupport^[5] asking why it hasn't been cracked, with the top answer suggesting nobody cares about the game enough to crack it.

Developments

Handball 17's untracked status continued to inspire posts and memes over the following years. For example, on September 17th, 2018, Redditor u/dat-reddit-dud posted a meme to /r/CrackWatch^[6] titled "Handball 17 double layer protection explained" that garnered over 700 upvotes in six years (shown below, left). That year, several posts about the game going untracked were posted on 4chan's /sp/^[7]^[8] board.

On April 7th, 2019, Redditor u/abhinokvip99 made a post to /r/CrackWatch^[9] sharing an emulated repack of the game, which is not considered an official crack of the game. On March 3rd, 2020, u/DerpyO posted a meme to /r/CrackWatch^[10] titled "Me trying to explain to newcomers why crackwatch hates Handball 17," garnering over 780 upvotes in four years (shown below, right).

Handball 17 Cracked by DELUSIONAL

On April 3rd, 2024, a post was made to the cs.rin.ru^[11] forum by FEEL_THE_DELUSION sharing a crack for Handball 17. That day, Redditor u/Masquerade32 shared a screenshot of the forum post to /r/CrackWatch,^[12] garnering over 2,700 upvotes in a day (shown below). The game remained uncracked for around 2,700 days.

Online Reactions

The reports of Handball 17 getting cracked inspired memes and posts online about the event, many ironically celebrating the game getting cracked. On April 3rd, 2024, the crack was reported on /r/PiratedGames,^[13] garnering over 500 upvotes in a day. On April 4th, several threads were started on 4chan^[14]^[15] about the crack.