New documents filed Monday, February 26 reveal that videogame giant Nintendo is taking action against the creators of the popular emulator tool Yuzu.
The copyright infringement filing, from Nintendo of America, states that the Yuzu tool (from developer Tropic Haze LLC) illegally circumvents the software encryption and copyright protection systems of Nintendo Switch titles, and thus facilitates piracy and infringes copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Nintendo alleges that Tropic Haze’s free Yuzu emulator tool unlawfully allows pirated Switch games to be played on PCs and other devices, bypassing Nintendo’s protection measures.
The official Yuzu website suggests that the tool is to be used with software you yourself own: “You are legally required to dump your games from your Nintendo Switch” — but it’s common knowledge, that this is not how these tools are primarily used.
The official Yuzu website suggests that the tool is to be used with software you yourself own: “You are legally required to dump your games from your Nintendo Switch” — but it’s common knowledge, that this is not how these tools are primarily used.
Yeah, so what?
It’s, legally speaking, not Yuzu’s domain to regulate what I can lawfully do within my own home with hardware I bought , or not. It’s not even Nintendon’t’s domain, and they are literally a Yakuza branch.
Thanks for the Streisand effect Nintendo. Hadn’t even heard of this until now. Now I’m downloading everything, and I’ll be donating to the devs if possible. And telling my friends to do the same. I will continue not giving you money for over 10 years now.
Eat shit.
I can’t boast of your 10-year track record, but my next 10 years started today. I canceled my Nintendo online and I’m selling my switch. Fuck Nintendo
The best time to boycott those pricks was 15 years ago. The next best time is today.
I agree with the sentiment and everything, but the whole gaming console industry has gone to crap after they started putting hard drives/storage in them with the goal of needing you to be online and not owning anything anymore. They are all equally despicable for that. Which makes emulation even more essential, just for preserving those games into the future when the online front will inexorably shut down.
I agree with this as well. However, Nintendo is like the Disney of lawsuits for the gaming industry. No one, and I mean NO ONE protects IP like they do.
Sega might be 2nd place or on par if you ignore Sonic
Fuck you Nintendo, nobody should give you a dime
Nintendo has always been an anti-consumer shit company since at least the 80’s. Pirate their shit on principle alone, even if you never intend on playingit. Share it with as many as you can.
I’m very uninformed here, haven’t gamed in a few years. But I’ve got a question- is yuzu software that is run on a rooted Switch device, or similar like a steam deck? Or do you run it on a computer? Or perhaps, it’s all of the above.
Anyway, thanks in advance if someone could give me a high level overview
Steamdeck(Linux), PC and Android.
Android, eh? Is it meant for phones, or is there a other set of android devices this is for?
It’s mainly meant for desktop I think. I suspect you need a very powerful android
Yuzu, to my knowledge, is PC only.
To get the information you need to use it, you’ll either download it illegally or hack a switch (legally?) To get encryption keys and dump a copy of your game.
I heard about the keys and the other website that serves them, seems an extremely important detail. I imagine the game dumps/copies are available as disk images of some sort online?
Thanks a lot for the info, skankhunt42!
.xci files are physical switch game images and .nsp files are updates or games from the eShop. Everything is online somewhere.
PC only implies it’s a windows program, yuzu runs on any x86_64 and ARMv8a or newer device.
It runs on Android now, which might be what’s gotten Nintendo extra annoyed here, since there are some relatively affordable Android handhelds that can run Switch games at close to full speed with some tweaking.
Having said that, I have an Odin 2 handheld, and it would have been cheaper and easier to just buy a Switch and the games I want to play.
Steam Deck is just a Linux computer, but it runs on any computer running Linux, Windows, or apparently Android, with capable hardware. It looks like it isn’t ready for Mac yet, though Ryujinx supposedly is.
It doesn’t run on a rooted Switch as far as I’m aware, but I don’t see the point in that. There’s no need to emulate the hardware if you’re actually using the hardware.
What’s the crowd funding site for Yuzu legal fees?
This.
That.
https://www.patreon.com/yuzuteam
If you wish to support us a different way, please join our Discord and talk to bunnei. You may also contact: donations@yuzu-emu.org.
Or you would wait until the EFF commits to representing Yuzu (like the did for youtube-dl) and donate to the EFF at that point
There’s a request on r/yuzu for a GoFundMe, but it has no response from the devs so far.
Or you could wait until the EFF commits to representing Yuzu
Any news on this?
They offer legal aid to high-profile open source cases. So if you want them to notice, raising awareness of Nintendo’s current actions against Yuzu is a good step
They should go one step further and ban the programming language as well the emulator was created in. That will show them!
Why stop there? Just ban everything that isn’t Nintendo. That’ll give em the old 1-2
I say we ban technology.
What about a technology permit, so you’re only allowed to develop technologized products if you get a permit from the Ministry of Proprietary Technology.
Great idea comrade, glory to Arstotzka!
Big Brother is developing
The EU’s AI Act isn’t far from this really. Regulating the development of AI so much, it’d be like if they regulated compilers to stop GNU back in the day.
I wonder if they’re going after Switch emulators now because the emulation capability is matching the product lifecycle, and that the patreon page makes the Yuzu team legally targetable.
If we’re in for a repeat of GC -> Wii in the sense of the Wii being a more powerful GC, then Yuzu is potentially already close to being able to emulate the next gen Nintendo console out of the gate.
If that is the case, that’s just par for the course when you’re dealing with nearly decade old hardware.
From what I understood, is that the team’s Patreon page is a means of making financial gains of emulating the Switch. This could be the reason why Nintendo is suing.
Vanced NFT memories.
Well Vanced was a lot different, they were actually redistributing code from YouTube. They were asking to be sued and they got off really easy.
Whereas here, no code is being used afaik. They don’t even include the keys for the decryption for the console. So the only thing this can do is: decrypt game files once provided keys and then run an emulated graphics pipeline and logic process for said game.
Now I can see an argument about how Yuzu is specifically built to emulate the Switch which is a current product. Which makes this sketchy. But also it’s an emulator. What’s better is that breaking the law is not required to use the emulator. You can get your own rom rips and keys and use them with the emulator which gives it a legal purpose as a 3rd party application.
This is Nintendo just trying to scare them Id bet. Not a zero chance that Yuzu could lose though.
This is why I will never buy a Nintendo console. I’m about to buy a Steam Deck… call me biased.
You’re biased.
😎
Download Yuzu now, sideload later. Just in case.
It’s an open source project. It’s always going to be out there. I am gonna go fork the repo just for the hell of it right now.
If Nintendo wins, the Github page and the website page will probably shutdown.
Forking it now is a good idea.
Forking it now is a good idea.
Specifically, to a different repo hosting provider, or a server you control
It will be forked to a thousand other platforms, including private git repositories hosted locally. That cat is out of the bag and fortunately there’s not a damn thing they can do about it
Go with Ryujinx. It’s a bit more accurate and works with a few more titles Yuzu may have issues with.
A lot of Yuzu’s problem was flying too close to the sun with their Patreon as well. Gave Nintendo ammo for a lawsuit there.
The problem is with the development ceasing. The source code will remain, but if there’z no dedicated team developing bugs will not be fixed and features will not be added.
Someone sue Nintendo for gatekeeping.
Nintendo makes me want to emulate more and more
What are you playing on? I would play my switch more if the games weren’t so expensive.
Don’t mind me if I fork
Don’t fork, they go down if the original goes down. Download and reupload.
Or fork to a different system, e.g. Gogs/Gitea/ForgeJo/GitLab…
Might as well set the groundwork to make it easier to shut down any emulators for the new console. Can’t have old steam deck and others taking the handheld market
nintendos shitty hardware is the only thing keeping me from buying their excellent games. I would rather buy a steam deck and deal with all the associated bullshit getting an emulator working rather than purchase nintendo’s terrible plastic shit.
i sound angry, but thats because i am. i love their games, would give them my money to play them. BUT NOT on crap hardware. never, ever again, nintendo.
harrrumph
I swear if the next console gets stick drift as easily I won’t buy one.
I don’t have a problem with the tech being old as long as the games are good, but the failure rate of their joycons and pro controllers is abysmal! I got a converter to use a PS5 controller on the Switch and it’s much better!
Fuck Nintendo
