Last month, Nintendo sued Yuzu’s developers for their Yuzu emulator app. Nintendo accused them of colossal piracy and copyright infringement.
The world of video games is very dynamic. You need to level up your game in order to stay relevant constantly. However, preserving aged games from various gaming platforms can become challenging. So, this is where emulation steps in to allow us to play different games from different eras on our preferred platform.
However, the emulation has been grey for recent consoles. It is sparking friction between the game developers and emulator creators. Nintendo suing Yuzu’s creator was inevitable, but can Nintendo entirely eliminate emulation in the future? As technology advances, it will become easier to create better emulation.
What is Emulation?
The basic way of understanding emulation is replicating one system’s fictionality on another system. Imagine you want to play Animal Crossing badly but don’t own a Nintendo Switch. This is where emulator creators like Yuzu come in and provide the service of emulation. You can use the platform Yuzu to play Animal Crossing on your computer.
Similarly, gamers who don’t own the Nintendo Switch they all opt for emulators like Yuzu. Many gamers play Legend of Zelda with better graphics using Yuzu on their computer. In 2023, when the new Zelda game, Tears of Kingdom, came out, many fans were allowed to try it on their computer for free.
We all know that Nintendo has a huge history of witch-hunting various emulator programs. For example, many years ago, Dolphin was another open-source emulator for Nintendo WII and GameCube. They wanted to put their emulator on Steam as a way of monetization. Of course, Nintendo didn’t let that happen, as they took the legal route. According to FastCompany, Nintendo said that.
“This emulator illegally circumvents Nintendo’s protection measures and runs illegal copies of games. Using illegal emulators or illegal copies of games harms development and ultimately stifles innovation. Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and in turn expects others to do the same.”
Benefits of Emulation
Of course, as much as Nintendo hates the emulator programs, many gamers love them. We cannot overlook the emulator’s benefits because they are pretty legit.
- Preserving old video games: Classic games can become obsolete when the main console also becomes obsolete. However, our love for that game doesn’t perish easily, so it is normal for gamers to revisit their favorite childhood games. Emulators allow gamers a trip to indulge themselves in nostalgia.
- Accessibility: Emulation allows games to be more accessible. It is more beneficial for games on discontinued consoles.
- Enhance performance: In many cases, emulators provide significant improvement in performance over the original platform. Powerful gaming PCs can emulate games at a higher resolution and frame rates.
The Rise of Yuzu
In 2018, Yuzu became one of the most popular emulators for Nintendo Switch. It took over the gaming community like a storm. It allowed gamers to try out popular titles like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey.
Gamers could try out these popular titles before purchasing the switch itself. Moreover, players who couldn’t get Nintendo Switch could also play the popular titles.
Moreover, gamers also wanted to experience these legendary games on their powerful PC; hence, the popularity of Yuzu skyrocketed over the years.
Nintendo’s Objections: A Copyright Chaos
While emulation is a celebratory moment for many gamers, it also has its fair number of critics. If we look at the game developers’ point of view, then emulator programs are definitely concerning.
Nintendo has a strong history of aggressively protecting their intellectual rights. They go after any emulator programs that are doing well. So, Yuzu’s fate was already sealed.
Emulators are not illegal, but they can used to play games obtained through unauthorized means. As a result, the game’s original developers lose a huge portion of their sales. For example, many players played Tears of the Kingdom on Yuzu’s platform without purchasing the game.
A Copyright Infringement Claim
In February, the tension between the Nintendo and Yuzu communities exploded. Nintendo sued Yuzu for copyright infringement. The main key arguments are:
- Facilitation of Piracy: Nintendo claimed that Yuzu promoted piracy by allowing gamers to run games without purchasing from Nintendo’s official stores.
- Leak Exploitation: In the case of Yuzu, Nintendo claimed that the developers used leaked game files to optimize their next emulation of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
- Technological Measures: Nintendo argued that Yuzu violated the technical measures they put in to protect their console and games.
However, Tropic Haze, the developers of Yuzu, countered all the claims. They argued that the emulator itself does not promote piracy. The users are responsible for getting the games legally. Yuzu’s developer also mentioned how it allows obsolete games to be replayed on computers. Another key argument of Tropic Haze was that gamers might want to experience series like Zelda on a better and optimized system.
The Settlement
Yuzu’s developer agreed to pay Nintendo $2.4 million and cease the development and distribution of the emulator. Obviously, it is evident that Nintendo won the battle, which was a shock for the emulator community.
Later on, Yuzu’s Developer wrote a heartfelt message to their community on their Discord:
Hello yuz-ers and Citra fans: We write today to inform you that yuzu and yuzu’s support of Citra are being discontinued, effective immediately.
yuzu and its team have always been against piracy. We started the projects in good faith, out of passion for Nintendo and its consoles and games, and were not intending to cause harm. But we see now that because our projects can circumvent Nintendo’s technological protection measures and allow users to play games outside of authorized hardware, they have led to extensive piracy. In particular, we have been deeply disappointed when users have used our software to leak game content prior to its release and ruin the experience for legitimate purchasers and fans.
We have come to the decision that we cannot continue to allow this to occur. Piracy was never our intention, and we believe that piracy of video games and on video game consoles should end. Effective today, we will be pulling our code repositories offline, discontinuing our Patreon accounts and Discord servers, and, soon, shutting down our websites. We hope our actions will be a small step toward ending piracy of all creators’ works.
Thank you for your years of support and for understanding our decision.
Conclusion
The gaming community is left questioning the future of game preservation. The emulator is one of the effective ways to preserve old games. However, this case can discourage many developers from making such programs. Nintendo might have to step up their game so they can minimize the number of people emulating their games. One of the main reasons for emulation is better graphics and resolution. The Switch 2 could provide gamers with better performance.
