Nintendo pulls down over 8500 copies of Yuzu, the Switch emulator

Emulation is a controversial topic within the video game industry. There are emulators for classic systems, but also for contemporary consoles, and although it is obvious that they play their role - some titles could not be enjoyed if their consoles ceased to exist - the line between legal use of emulators and piracy is sometimes very blurred. Nintendo considers Switch emulators harmful to their business, so they made the decision to sue Tropic Haze, the creators of Yuzu. Now, the Japanese company have put their legal machinery back into action to delete 8,535 copies that were still being shared online.

Some time elapsed between the filing of the original lawsuit and the closing of the deal, meaning that Yuzu was available for download during that time period. While Tropic Haze removed its own copy, other people no doubt downloaded any of the versions while they were active, which opens the doors for it to be shared and made available to other users mainly through the Internet. However, as TorrentFreak explains, Nintendo has sent a copyright notice ti GitHub to remove the files:

“Because the reported network that contained the allegedly infringing content was larger than one hundred (100) repositories, and the submitter alleged that all or most of the forks were infringing to the same extent as the parent repository, GitHub processed the takedown notice against the entire network of 8,535 repositories, inclusive of the parent repository.”

Nintendo’s motives

As defended by Nintendo, the use of Yuzu allows any player to obtain and play illegal copies of any Nintendo Switch game, all “without paying” the company or “any of the hundreds of developers and publishers” that design and sell titles for the hybrid console. They argued that the emulator turns PCs into tools to “massively violate Nintendo’s intellectual property and other works” protected by copyright.

Following the complaint, Nintendo reached an agreement with Tropic Haze, which had to pay $2.4 million in damages. Another of the most popular Nintendo emulators, Dolphin, had planned to release a legal version on Steam. However, its creators were forced to turn back when Nintendo blocked it.