Will the performance impact of anno 117 pax romana denuvo be noticeable on mid-range PCs?

[Rolf]

I am very excited about the transition to Ancient Rome, but I’m concerned about the DRM implementation. There has been a lot of discussion about whether anno 117 pax romana denuvo protection will cause CPU micro-stuttering during large-scale city simulations when the population count gets high. Does anyone have information on whether the developers are optimizing the integration to prevent the frame-rate drops seen in other recent strategy releases?

 

[megamind]

Based on current reports from early 2026, the performance impact of Denuvo in Anno 117: Pax Romana is a significant point of contention for players on mid-range hardware. While Ubisoft has integrated Denuvo Anti-Tamper to protect the game's code, the "CPU tax" it imposes is becoming apparent during large-scale simulations.

The Denuvo and Performance Reality​

The performance on mid-range PCs is generally "playable" but far from perfectly smooth, especially as your city grows.

• CPU Bottlenecking: Like previous Anno titles, the game is heavily CPU-bound. Denuvo’s constant background integrity checks add a layer of processing that competes with the complex simulation logic (trade routes, citizen AI, and resource management).
  
  
• The "Micro-Stutter" Issue: Users on Steam and Reddit have reported frequent micro-stuttering (0.5s to 1s pauses) specifically when placing buildings or opening UI menus. Even players with high-end CPUs like the Ryzen 7800X3D have noted these hiccups, suggesting it is a software/optimization issue rather than just a lack of hardware power.
  
  
• Late-Game Bogging: Performance tends to hold steady until around 20k 30k population. Beyond this, mid-range systems often see a drop to 40 50 FPS, with more pronounced stutters during ship battles or when moving the camera quickly across the map.

Optimization & Developer Response​

Ubisoft Blue Byte has acknowledged launch-day performance bugs, including a specific "sticky UI" issue and audio stuttering that occurs after several hours of play.

• Patches: Patch 1.3 and 1.4 have addressed some stability issues, but Denuvo remains active. Ubisoft typically only removes Denuvo months (or years) after a game's sales peak, as seen with Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
• Mid-Range Scaling: The game features wide graphical presets. Users find that turning off Ray Tracing and lowering the Shadow Quality significantly helps maintain a stable frame rate on mid-range cards like the RTX 3060 Ti or 4060.