Nintendo is suing the makers of Yuzu, an open-source emulator for the Nintendo Switch, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Rhode Island court. Game File reporter Stephen Totilo first reported the lawsuit.
The 41-page lawsuit was filed against Tropic Haze, the company that produces yuzu. (Nintendo also specifically refers to a person with the pseudonym Bunnei leading Yuzu’s development.) Yuzu is a free emulator released in 2018, months after the original release of the Nintendo Switch. The same people who created Citra, a Nintendo 3DS emulator, created this one. Basically, it is a software that allows users to play Nintendo Switch games on Windows PC, Linux and Android devices. (It also runs on Steam Deck, which Valve showed in a Steam Deck video clip – and then deleted
Nintendo argued that Yuzu executes codes that “bypass” Nintendo’s security measures, including decryption using “an illegally obtained copy of prod.keys.”
“In other words, without Yuzu’s decryption of the Nintendo encryption, unauthorized copies of games could be played on PCs or Android devices,” Nintendo wrote in the lawsuit. Regarding the damage allegedly caused by Yuzu, Nintendo referred to the publication of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Tears of the Kingdom has leaked almost two weeks before the game’s May 12 release date. The pirated copy of the game spread quickly; Nintendo said it has already been downloaded more than a million times Tears of the Kingdom
Although Yuzu does not release pirated games, Nintendo has repeatedly stated that most ROM sites point people to Yuzu to play the games they download.
Nintendo said it had “devoted significant resources to stopping the illegal copying, marketing, sale and distribution” of its Nintendo Switch games. It says that Yuzu earns the team $30,000 per month on his Patreon
Nintendo is demanding that the court shut down the emulator and pay damages. Polygon has reached out to Nintendo and Tropic Haze for comment.
The Tears of the Kingdom The publisher is notoriously strict with its intellectual property. Nintendo has won several lawsuits against pirated gaming sites like RomUniverse, being awarded more than $2 million in damages. Nintendo also famously took action against a suspected Nintendo Switch hacker named Gary Bowser, who was arrested and charged with selling Switch hacks. Despite being released from prison, Bowser still owes Nintendo $10 million; In prison, he paid Nintendo $175 with money he earned in the prison library and kitchen.