After successfully taking down the open-source Switch emulator Yuzu, Nintendo is back on the warpath and has deleted a total of 8,535 Yuzu repositories via GitHub in one go.
As reported TorrentFreak (Thank you, Eurogamer), Nintendo filed a DMCA notice on GitHub earlier this week, targeting Yuzu repositories that it says “provide access to the Yuzu emulator or code based on the Yuzu emulator [which] illegally circumvents Nintendo’s technological safeguards and runs illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games”.
GitHub then explained that because the network was made up of more than 100 repositories (most, if not all, of which contained allegedly infringing content), it had made the decision to destroy the entire network of 8,353 repositories, including the parent one. Ugh.
GitHub then contacted all repository owners, with the option of modifying the repository, filing a DMCA complaint, or seeking legal remedies if necessary.
Nintendo protecting its assets is nothing new or particularly surprising, but it’s interesting to see how aggressive it is at this point. The Switch is still very important, of course, but it gets us thinking about the company’s next console and its potential for backwards compatibility.
Nintendo won’t want their Switch catalog accessed via emulation if they want to keep them available for ‘Switch 2’, will they? Food for thought.
