Nintendo is pretty notorious for being one of, if not the most viciously litigious companies in the game industry. There are countless examples of the Japanese company going after passion projects and fan games (which also makes the lack of attention towards Palworld all the more confusing). Even more recently, Nintendo’s aggressive legal tactics prevented the launch of the Dolphin Emulator on Steam. It seems Nintendo is at it again, with their target being the popular Switch emulator, Yuzu.
Spotted by Stephen Totilo, Nintendo appears to be suing the creators of Yuzu, claiming that the emulator’s tech “illegally circumvents Nintendo’s software encryption and facilitates piracy”. On top of the damages, Nintendo is seeking to have the emulator shut down.
NEW: Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo's software encryption and facilitates piracy.
Seeks damages for alleged violations and a shutdown of the emulator. pic.twitter.com/SGZVI6Cs0x— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) February 27, 2024
One of the platform holder’s biggest arguments is the fact that there were allegedly 1 million pirated copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom downloaded prior to the game’s release (a number that makes up less than five per cent of the game’s total sales. During that time, Yuzu’s support on Patreon doubled, which is why the company is arguing that Yuzu’s business model assists in the proliferation of piracy.
It’s hard to tell how the proceedings will go for Nintendo, as the Yuzu development team has always maintained that they do not condone the use of their program for piracy, and the distribution of games and encryption keys is not handled by them at all.
