Nintendo’s proverbial legal “ninjas” have struck again, as the company has formally filed a lawsuit against the creators of Yuzu—a Switch emulator for PC and Android.
Citing examples of leaked games being playable via the emulator early, as well as the alleged circumvention of security features of the console by means of hacking, Nintendo is seeking to pull the plug on the Yuzu emulator as well as receive compensation for damages caused by its availability.
No stranger to the situation
Nintendo has made a name for itself as being one of the most legally-aggressive companies in the gaming world. Other entities have certainly tried to flex their legal muscles over the years, like the infamous 2002 case of Sony taking Bleem to court over creating a PS1 emulator. Regardless, Nintendo remains as one of the most proactive about protecting its IP, particularly when it comes to cases of emulation and ROM distribution.
This particular lawsuit against Yuzu has been brought to light by Stephen Totilo, a reporter and the mind behind GameFile.
In short, Nintendo claims that the creators of Yuzu intentionally violated the DMCA (copyright protection) of the Switch and is seeking to have the emulator’s distribution ceased by means this lawsuit.
Yuzu’s existence is technically not illegal within of itself, that is, as long as its creators can prove the code behind it is entirely original and not at all sourced from any of Nintendo’s work. Nevertheless, Nintendo points to Yuzu’s ability of allowing “pirated Nintendo Switch games [to be playable] on PCs and Android devices” as a justifiable reason for its removal due to such a feat “not [being] otherwise possible due to the protections that Nintendo has put into place on its consoles and games.”
As expected, Nintendo argues its right to protect its IP and investment, “as well as the investments of its third-party developers” as grounds for going after Yuzu’s creators.
Nintendo’s lawsuit even goes into a bit of detail as to how the Switch’s security protocols work, and thus insinuating how Yuzu’s creation is an example of this being circumvented and exploited. There’s one particularly strong line that make an outright accusation: “Only because Yuzu decrypts a Nintendo Switch game file dynamically during operation can the game be played in Yuzu. In other words, without Yuzu’s decryption of Nintendo’s encryption, unauthorized copies of games could not be played on PCs or Android devices.”
Cat and mouse
In a recent and similar flex of its legal muscle, Nintendo got under the skin of the team behind the Dolphin Gamecube/Wii emulator.
Notably, a lawsuit was not filed against the Dolphin team, unlike what’s happening with Yuzu. Dolphin has been in existence for quite some time, and has likely long been known by Nintendo. Yet, curiously, it didn’t choose to swoop in and threaten Dolphin’s existence until its team announced plans to make the emulator available on Steam. After Nintendo made its feelings against that move clear, those plans were swiftly redacted, and just as swiftly Nintendo went back to feigning ignorance of the emulator’s existence.
Perhaps the stark difference in reaction is due to Nintendo perhaps not wanting to get into a legal tango with Dolphin that would also involve Valve, which is one of its partners. Yuzu, on the other hand, is not being given the same leniency.
Despite there being so many of such examples, the Big N has yet to truly win any case it has brought against emulation teams. However, over the years its preliminary actions have seemed to be enough to get the convicted parties to bow down. For instance, the termination of major emulation/ROM sites like Emuparadise came as a result of a cease and desist being filed by Nintendo.
There have even been a few real life examples of persons finding themselves in Nintendo’s legal crosshairs getting their lives derailed. One such folk was Team Xectuer’s Gary Bowser who was sent to prison in 2022 as a result of his prominent involvement in the Switch hacking community.
It’s still too early to say exactly how things will pan out with the Yuzu lawsuit. But, considering Nintendo’s track record, it’s likely that at the very least, Yuzu’s creators end up settling with the console maker out of court. No matter how popular the emulator has become, along with the ‘legal grey area’ that it exists in, taking on a legal giant like Nintendo is an endeavor that nobody has conquered yet, and it’s doubtful that will change here.
In relation to this news:
Nintendo has a right to protect its IP, but how bad is emulation, really?
