After Yuzu for the Switch, it’s the turn of the Android emulator Pizza Boy for GBA and GBC to bow out and leave the Google Play Store. Its developer did not specify the exact reasons for its decision.
You have probably already come across a video, an infographic or an article showing all the devices that our smartphones replace. Calculator, camera, camera… The list is long and we also find the video game consoles. Thanks to increasingly high performance and sufficiently large screens, it is easy to run even titles from the latest platforms. You will have understood: we are talking here aboutemulation.
Let us nevertheless recall its principle in a few words. Using a program (here an application), you will load a ROMs, a digital version of a game normally in the form of a cartridge or CD. In short, everything is virtual, but the experience is essentially the same as on the original console. It can even become bestemulators taking advantage of the power of our smartphones to improve graphics Or increase frame rate original for example. Attractive, but there are fewer and fewer emulators on Android.
The developer of this Game Boy emulator on Android removes it from the Play Store
Technically, emulation is not illegal in itself. You have the right to own private digital copies of the games you own. What is not allowed is to download ROMs without owning the original title. The rights holders do not seek to make this type of nuance. A recent example: Nintendo filed a complaint against the developers of Yuzu, the famous Switch emulator on Android. The latter chose to delete the emulator and pay a fine to the Japanese manufacturer.
It’s the turn of thePizza Boy emulator For Game Boy Advanced And Game Boy Color to disappear from the Play Store, as well as all its variations. Davide Berra, its creator, announced the news on March 7, 2024. We do not know what motivated his decision, the man simply saying that “[sa] family comes first, and for this reason, [il a] chose to prioritize his family over the development of [ses] apps“. We can console ourselves (no pun intended) by remembering that Drastic, Nintendo DS emulator on Android, became free following the disappearance of Yuzu.