Nobody cracked the PC version until after the removal.

Always online aside, the reason Denuvo keeps being used is because for most Denuvoed games it takes a lot longer than a few days/weeks for a crack to be released, if ever - there is only one entity that cracks Denuvo anymore, and their releases are sporadic (plus they’re a bit of a … character). Plenty of games still don’t use Denuvo though, and those don’t even last a day.

I don’t quite get slapping it on an always online game where you’re expected to connect directly to their game servers, though.