Nintendo recently made a decision with serious consequences, and that’s it, it’s confirmed, we will no longer be able to play the Switch for free. Well almost.
You are probably aware that last week, Nintendo filed a complaint against Yuzu. If you don’t know it, know that it is an emulator allowing you to play Switch games on PC. It is by far one of the most popular, hence the action of Big N. We were patiently waiting for the end of the story, and unsurprisingly, the lawsuit filed was short-lived (there was no therefore did not have a real trial). So, what were the consequences of the latter?
Play Nintendo Switch for free? Don’t dream
It’s official, the creator of Yuzu, Tropic Haze LLC, will pay Nintendo $2.4 million in damages. Quite a colossal sum. The reason ? Violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), prohibiting the circumvention of technological measures controlling access to copyrighted works. The emulator will therefore no longer be distributed or developed, and all copies of it will be destroyed. Obviously, the domain name “yuzu.emu.org” was also transferred to the firm.
The name Yuzu may not mean anything to you, but this emulator made a lot of noise in 2023. For good reason, it allowed players to access Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before its release. Of course, the game was already available almost everywhere, but the emulator was one of those which distributed it on a large scale. Indeed, according to Nintendo, the game was pirated more than a million times in a week and a half, as it was preparing to land on Switch. And Yuzu strongly participated in that. So obviously, he didn’t really appreciate it, just like the fans who saw themselves being spoiled without warning.
Regardless, the developer claimed that it had no bad intentions behind creating the emulator for Nintendo Switch titles. Hence the fact that he agreed to settle the dispute, instead of going to court. He regrets the behavior of certain users, who used it improperly. Either way, it’s the end for Yuzu, and her Patreon account, which was collecting about $30,000 per month, will be closed. Now, what does this affair symbolize for the future?
What future for other emulators?
In truth, this is not Nintendo’s first attempt. Emulators are something he takes seriously. We saw this with Dolphin for Wii and GameCube games, which never managed to be officially released on Steam. The company’s letter was clear: ” We specifically request that Dolphin’s “coming soon” notice be removed and that you ensure that the emulator is not listed for sale on the Steam store in the future “. But what about other software used to play Switch titles for free?
The Ryujinx emulator has notably been mentioned a number of times by the community. It is also used to run Switch games, but given Yuzu’s fate, will he experience a similar fate? Well, for now, we can’t say. Nintendo may just not have looked into his case yet, but for reasons that we don’t know. We will see how the situation develops.