The end of the Yuzu emulator: in court, its creators will pay Nintendo $2.4 million!

What is Yuzu Emulator?

Yuzu is an open-source emulator for the Nintendo Switch gaming console. It allows users to play Nintendo Switch games on their PC by emulating the console’s hardware and software environment. Yuzu is still in development and not all games are fully playable or compatible with the emulator. The use of emulators to play pirated games is illegal and against Nintendo’s terms of service.

“Yuzu Emulator Shuts Down After Nintendo’s Legal Action”

It took less than a week for the Yuzu emulator to disappear. On February 28th, Nintendo initiated a legal procedure to shut down the emulator that allowed users to play Nintendo Switch games without owning them. Five days later, on March 4th, the creators of the emulator announced that they had reached an agreement with Nintendo.

This agreement marks the complete disappearance of the emulator. The development of Yuzu has ceased immediately, and all its versions will be deleted. The creators of the software have also agreed to pay Nintendo a financial compensation of $2.4 million.

A Bypass of Technological Measures

With this announcement, it has become much more complicated for players to play games from an illegally downloaded copy. This was the whole point of Nintendo’s legal action, as the company saw it as a direct consequence of the massive piracy of the game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

However, Yuzu’s decision to sign an agreement with Nintendo so quickly may seem surprising, given the legal uncertainty surrounding the use of emulators. In the 2000s, the courts had sided with two emulators – Connetix and Bleem! – when Sony, the manufacturer of the PlayStation, had sued them, recalls PC Gamer.

But Nintendo’s complaint directly targeted the design of the Yuzu software to “circumvent technological measures” put in place by the company to protect its games, specifies the specialized site. This mention directly refers to the DMCA, the American copyright law adapted to digital uses.

By invoking this law, lawyer Richard Hoeg had assured The Verge that Nintendo had a good chance of winning a lawsuit. Moreover, he had explained that small groups tended to give up by themselves to avoid a legal battle. This is ultimately what Yuzu did.

It remains to be seen whether this victory will push Nintendo to attempt to shut down all emulators that allow users to play Switch games. All eyes are now turned to the Ryujinx software. But by reaching an agreement with Yuzu, Nintendo does not have a legal precedent to ensure a victory in a lawsuit against another emulation solution.