In this case, we don’t know all the variables: DRM may not be the only difference between the retail and cracked copies of Village. As Leadbetter points out, though, if DRM is not to blame for the stuttering, the only remaining conclusion is that the cracked version both bypasses the DRM and fixes a performance issue unrelated to DRM. That’s possible, but I think it’s safe for us to reject ‘oops, accidentally fixed the stuttering’ as the explanation here (and it doesn’t really reflect better on the game)

It’s not too implausible to me that the developers usually rest without Denuvo, and then have imperfect methods of compiling Denuvo into the final product. There’s obviously some explanation for why some games do not increase in performance.