Sonic Mania has launched onto PC, with Denuvo DRM and an always online requirement.
SEGA have released a statement on the Steam forums, stating that the Denuvo DRM requirement was mistakenly left off the Steam description.
The online requirement, however, has been stated to be an error, which is being investigated.
The full statement can be seen here:
This statement hasn’t gone over well with everyone, however. A (now deleted) comment left by Stealth, aka Simon Thomley, one of the Headcannon team, the developer of Sonic Mania, disputes aspects of SEGA’s statement:
This statement from Stealth also implies a previous rift, caused by issues related to Sonic Mania’s PC release delay.
In addition to this, the PR for Sonic the Hedgehog asked that Sonic Mania fans let SEGA know their feedback about the inclusion of Denuvo DRM:
In particular, please do share your feedback on DRM or any issues you're having at the link above. Make your voices heard.
— Aaron Webber (@RubyEclipse) August 29, 2017
We have reached out to Headcannon and SEGA for statements regarding this story.