Nintendo has shut down a community software development project that has helped facilitate piracy of Nintendo Switch games.
Nintendo brought legal action against the developer of the Yuzu emulator, which can be used to play Nintendo Switch software on other systems. The case has resulted in settlement deal of $2.4m (£1.9m) in damages against developer Tropic Haze and an order to cease operations.
This means the end for both the Yuzu and Citra, which emulated the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS respectively.
However, Yuzu said in a statement that any piracy was “unintentional”, and that they are “deeply disappointed” that some gamers exploited the emulators.
The legal case surfaced on February 27 after it was spotted by video games journalist Stephen Totilo.
Why was Yuzu shut down?
Nintendo accused the Tropic Haze development team of “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale” – and that Yuzu was among the primary ways the “over one million” illegal downloads of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were played ahead of the game’s official launch.
As well as paying damages, Tropic Haze will surrender its website, domain and copies of the Yuzu software to Nintendo.
Tropic Haze lead developer Bunnei confirmed the effective end of the emulator in a post on Discord.
“We write today to inform you that yuzu and yuzu’s support of Citra are being discontinued, effective immediately,” they wrote.
“Yuzu and its team have always been against piracy. We started the projects in good faith, out of a passion for Nintendo and its consoles and games, and were not intending to cause harm… we hope our actions will be a small step toward ending piracy of all creators’ works.”
Yuzu has been in development since at least 2018, when it was announced, while Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra was released in 2014.
Emulation has become the backbone of video game preservation, and is used by Nintendo’s own Switch Online service.
This type of software in itself is not illegal, but Nintendo’s case in this instance may have been strengthened by careless online behaviour by Yuzu’s developers. “I think Yuzu definitely crossed some line when they started explaining how to actually pirate games,” an unnamed emulator developer told Ars Technica.
Yuzu alternatives
With Yuzu felled, there is now only one other major Nintendo Switch emulator project, Ryujinx. It has been around a similar amount of time as Yuzu, seeing its original release in early 2018.
At present there is no word of Nintendo launching a case against Ryujinx, but it has a history of acting aggressively when these projects hit a critical mass.
For example, in 2023, Nintendo asked Steam to remove the Dolphin emulator, which can be used to play Nintendo GameCube and Wii system games. Steam complied.
Nintendo is also presumed to be behind the spate of removals of YouTube videos that showed Nintendo Switch games running on Steam Deck systems, in 2022.
Nintendo has reason to care, of course. In 2010, it claimed R4 cartridges were to blame for a 50 per cent drop in sales of game cartridges across Europe, as per a Game Developer report. These fairly low-cost carts let people play illegally downloaded Nintendo DS games, with minimal tech knowledge required.
What is Bunnei’s full statement?
Their full statement can be found on X.
The Standard has approached Nintendo for comment. The Standard were unable to make contact with Yuzu but their statement is included for clarity.
— yuzu (@yuzuemu) March 4, 2024
