Last week, Nintendo announced it was going after the developers of the Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu, for several reasons. And while many of us, including myself, figured that this lawsuit wouldn’t be a slam-dunk for Nintendo, it seems we were completely wrong (it happens), and the way it played out was not how we imagined. Instead, the Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu and now, Nintendo 3DS emulator, Citra, are being shutdown.
Update – Since the 3DS emulator, Citra, was under the same management as Yuzu and Nintendo was so kind enough to ensure anything being managed by Tropic Haze was effect, Citras is also being forced to shut down.
Instead, we found out today that the Yuzu emulator, Tropic Haze, agreed to pay Nintendo $2.4 million as part of a mutual agreement.
As part of the settlement judgment, Tropic Haze is also prohibited from working on any further versions of the Nintendo Switch emulator or any future software that circumvents Nintendo’s technical protection. In addition, Tropic Haze must surrender all of its websites, domains, and any other information regarding the development of the Yuzu emulator.
Violates the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).” We have filed a lawsuit with the court. Article 120 of the DMCA prohibits the design or manufacture of ‘products whose primary purpose is to circumvent technological measures that effectively control access to copyrighted works.
Currently, the Yuzu website is still up, as is the ability to download the emulator and source code.
Nintendo pointed out that Yuzu allowed anyone to play games made for the Nintendo Switch, all without paying a dime. Now, while that is how piracy works, there have also been legit owners of Switch games who have dumped that they legally own. I’ve done so myself for a number of my Switch games that I’ve purchased for my Nintendo Switch. Yet, piracy trumps this as more people likely downloaded those games instead of obtaining them legally.
With Yuzu in hand, nothing stops a user from obtaining and playing unlawful
copies of virtually any game made for the Nintendo Switch, all without paying a dime to
Nintendo or to any of the hundreds of other game developers and publishers making and selling
games for the Nintendo Switch. In effect, Yuzu turns general computing devices into tools for
massive intellectual property infringement of Nintendo and others’ copyrighted works
Here’s the official lawsuit and settlement documentation.
Many people have wondered why it took Nintendo so long to go after Yuzu and possibly why they haven’t gone after the other Nintendo Switch emulator, Ryujinx. This is an answer I don’t have, but having Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo’s latest Zelda title, pirated a week before its official release and was playable via Yuzu, which didn’t help Tropic Haze’s case.
Now, all eyes are on Ryujinx and whether Nintendo will go after the other Switch emulator next.
However, the bigger issue concern, is with Nintendo showing how quickly it could shut down Yuzu, this could have been a trial run on a much bigger agenda; shutting down all emulation of Nintendo’s platforms; the NES, Super NES, Gamecube, N64, Gameboy, DS, 3DS, etc. This means that other emulators, such as Ryujinx, Dolphin, Citra (now being shut down since Tropic Haze also managed this), DeSmuME, Snes9x, and Nestopia UE days could be numbered.
We could be looking at a vastly different emulation scene thanks to this major dagger to the heart by Nintendo. I could be overreacting, but I’m sure I’m stating what many of us think.
