News Developers of Switch emulator Yuzu settle with Nintendo in court for $2.4 million less than a week after being sued

[Admin]

Nintendo defeats Nintendo Switch emulation in the form of a joint filing, with the emulator's developers agreeing to $2.4 million awarded damages.

Developers of Switch emulator Yuzu settle with Nintendo in court for $2.4 million less than a week after being sued : Read more

 

[TerryLaze]

"Developing or distributing software, including Yuzu, that in its ordinary course functions only when cryptographic keys are integrated without authorization, violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s prohibition on trafficking in devices that circumvent effective technological measures, because the software is primarily designed for the purpose of circumventing technological measures."

There are tools that can decrypt the games beforehand so the only thing the emulator devs need to do is to not include any decryption in their emulators.
Add a statement that it only works on "homebrew" games that are not encrypted and they are completely legal.

 

[usertests]

It's possible to develop and distribute software anonymously and break all the "rules" that emulator groups follow. It might even be possible to have anonymity as a legal defendant if a judge agrees to it.

Patreon is presumably the weak link because of money laundering laws. Someone knows who you are.

 

[oofdragon]

Whatever, I'll never buy Nintendo potatoes.. I mean hardware, neither pay for the software since I find it much overpriced for mobile games. Long are gone the days Mario and Zelda were good games. Now there are some good third parties but since potatoes let me out of choice there's Yuzu to save the day. Nintendo is the only to blame really.

 

[oofdragon]

Btw.. how's Nintendo into hardware's still? Can't they learn a thing or two with Sega? It would be for the best if they decided to partner with Sony and Microsoft. Imagine Zelda for PS5 VR or running on a 4090 with path tracing. Really, RIP NINTENDO SOONER THE BETTER

 

[JamesJones44]

Btw.. how's Nintendo into hardware's still? Can't they learn a thing or two with Sega? It would be for the best if they decided to partner with Sony and Microsoft. Imagine Zelda for PS5 VR or running on a 4090 with path tracing. Really, RIP NINTENDO SOONER THE BETTER

In one post you say you don't want to pay for their software, but then turn around and complain about their hardware?

Why not just say I hate Nintendo and want them to go out of business, because in your statements there is 0 way for them to make money from you.

 

[hotaru251]

Btw.. how's Nintendo into hardware's still? Can't they learn a thing or two with Sega? It would be for the best if they decided to partner with Sony and Microsoft. Imagine Zelda for PS5 VR or running on a 4090 with path tracing. Really, RIP NINTENDO SOONER THE BETTER

dumb post tbh.
Nintendo is the oldest maker.
They have a dedicated fanbase becasue Nintendo games & console are "worth" the cost.

Also fact...Nintendo is ONLY console maker who risks anything.

Nintendo tries new stuff. they tried motion controls with wii, they gave us portability w/ wii u & perfected both in Switch.

MS & Sony only know how to follow up known fads.

Nintendo does bad stuff for sure (example 1: i shouldnt have pay monthly fee to make backups of games).

 

[Joseph_138]

They shouldn't have caved. Emulators have already been successfully defended in court in other cases.

 

[UnforcedERROR]

Btw.. how's Nintendo into hardware's still? Can't they learn a thing or two with Sega? It would be for the best if they decided to partner with Sony and Microsoft. Imagine Zelda for PS5 VR or running on a 4090 with path tracing. Really, RIP NINTENDO SOONER THE BETTER

You should relay this opinion to Nintendo. I'm sure they're learning the lesson SEGA did by consistently outselling the PS5 on an inferior technological platform.

I'm joking, it's obvious.

Look, Nintendo hasn't been conventional in their approach since the DS, and they've yet to falter. Western audiences aren't the same as Japanese ones. Nintendo has focused on user experience over raw horsepower for 3 generations, and it hasn't hurt them in the slightest. You may take issue with the fact that they're not pushing more pixels, but most people play games for enjoyment, not for the fidelity.

Before you rationalize this away as me being a Nintendo fan, the most recent console I own from them is a SNES. But, you know, I've never prescribed to the weird console war stuff that most people do, I've only ever bought into a platform if it had games I was interested in. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate a company like Nintendo trying to innovate how we interact with gaming as opposed to pushing out the next fastest component.

 

[ezst036]

It's always Nintendo.

 

[Gauche Cockney]

*Sigh* it is the collateral damage that Citra, only 3DS emulator available, gone

 

[TerryLaze]

They shouldn't have caved. Emulators have already been successfully defended in court in other cases.

This wasn't about emulation, this was about decrypting the games and using pre-released (pirated) games to do work on the emulator.
This is why the yuzu team jumped at the opportunity to only pay 2,4 million, this is just a light slap on the wrist for this kind of thing.

 

[Ogotai]

Whatever, I'll never buy Nintendo potatoes.. I mean hardware, neither pay for the software since I find it much overpriced for mobile games. Long are gone the days Mario and Zelda were good games. Now there are some good third parties but since potatoes let me out of choice there's Yuzu to save the day. Nintendo is the only to blame really.

Btw.. how's Nintendo into hardware's still? Can't they learn a thing or two with Sega? It would be for the best if they decided to partner with Sony and Microsoft. Imagine Zelda for PS5 VR or running on a 4090 with path tracing. Really, RIP NINTENDO SOONER THE BETTER

heh, i own all the nintendo systems, why ? cause they have the games that i want to play, between the PSs and xboxs, there might be 5 total games between them, where the nintendo systems, have at least 10. i dont care if the PS and Xbox systems have the better hardware, for me.. its the games, and thats why nintendo gets my cash..

 

[YouFilthyHippo]

I think it sad they caved in. They should have fought back. They would have won. But it's fine. Yuzu is open source. Other developers will pick up the project and it will continue

 

[FoxtrotMichael-1]

For what it’s worth, I use Yuzu with keys from a switch I legally bought and own to play games I legally bought and own. They shouldn’t have been so openly flagrant with piracy.

 

[palladin9479]

I think it sad they caved in. They should have fought back. They would have won. But it's fine. Yuzu is open source. Other developers will pick up the project and it will continue

This wasn't about emulation, it was about what the Yuzu devs did to make it work, which they admitted to in an interview. They were using pirated versions of TTOK to build an emulator package then putting it behind a patreon paywall. This means they were making money off pirated nintendo property, that's a huge no no and a guaranteed loss. What likely happened is they contacted some lawyers right after being hit with the lawsuit, those lawyers looked at what was being presented and told them they had no chance and to immediately settle.

Now if they didn't have super secret versions behind patreon paywalls, and instead just released the step by step on how to "make it work" then previous court rulings make it very hard for nintendo to shut it down.

 

[scottslayer]

Recently Unicorn Overlord leaked over a week early and apparently some of the devs were working on it before they got shut down, so they just cant stop making bad decisions.

 

[TerryLaze]

Now if they didn't have super secret versions behind patreon paywalls,

The newest version of many emulators is often paid for an gets released for free later on, it's not a paywall, rather a pay to not wait a week-ish.

 

[DSzymborski]

I think it sad they caved in. They should have fought back. They would have won. But it's fine. Yuzu is open source. Other developers will pick up the project and it will continue

Like any good pretend internet lawyer, you're quite open with risking assets, so long as it's someone else's you're risking. And as you said in the last thread, you didn't even bother to read the lawsuit.

I'm guessing their actual lawyer *did*. It's amazing how helpful that is to do.

 

[YouFilthyHippo]

This wasn't about emulation, it was about what the Yuzu devs did to make it work, which they admitted to in an interview. They were using pirated versions of TTOK to build an emulator package then putting it behind a patreon paywall. This means they were making money off pirated nintendo property, that's a huge no no and a guaranteed loss. What likely happened is they contacted some lawyers right after being hit with the lawsuit, those lawyers looked at what was being presented and told them they had no chance and to immediately settle.

Now if they didn't have super secret versions behind patreon paywalls, and instead just released the step by step on how to "make it work" then previous court rulings make it very hard for nintendo to shut it down.

Yuzu was working well before TOTK was released. It was 5 years in development and has well matured. They also have had early access patreon builds for years and never had an issue, so I don't think it was that. They have always had early access patreon builds paywalled. Why would Nintendo wait so many years? I dont think this had anything to do with patreon, emulation, or piracy itself. I think they were sick of their games getting fully completed, all guides and playthroughs uploaded to YouTube before it was even playable on switch, to the point where it felt like what PlayStation was doing with CoD, releasing it a month early on PlayStation before X-Box. Like, PC player beating switch games before switch players when its a switch excuse. I think they got salty over that. This has happened to many first party games as of late, and Nintendo got fed up, and looked for an excuse to sue. I would be very interested to see specifically what their lawyer said, and why.

 

[Deleted member 2969713]

The meltdown over on GBAtemp over this is amusing. I understand the few legitimate users of the emulator (i.e. bought the games on Switch and dumped them themselves) being annoyed about this, but it's safe to assume the vast majority of Yuzu users were and are pirates, making their angry takes about Nintendo being "villainous" ring hollow.

I don't have sympathy for the plight of the Yuzu developers, either, as they were clearly enabling piracy and making bank off of it.

 

[palladin9479]

Yuzu was working well before TOTK was released. It was 5 years in development and has well matured. They also have had early access patreon builds for years and never had an issue, so I don't think it was that. They have always had early access patreon builds paywalled. Why would Nintendo wait so many years? I dont think this had anything to do with patreon, emulation, or piracy itself. I think they were sick of their games getting fully completed, all guides and playthroughs uploaded to YouTube before it was even playable on switch, to the point where it felt like what PlayStation was doing with CoD, releasing it a month early on PlayStation before X-Box. Like, PC player beating switch games before switch players when its a switch excuse. I think they got salty over that. This has happened to many first party games as of late, and Nintendo got fed up, and looked for an excuse to sue. I would be very interested to see specifically what their lawyer said, and why.

Nah it was Yuzu team making quite a bit of money off the TOTK release.

If they didn't openly admit to using a pirated TOTK version to get it working, then leaving it in "EA" behind a paywall right after TOTK release, it would of been very hard for Nintendo to chase them down.

Due purely for those reasons stated above, Nintendo can present evidence that Yuzu team directly harmed sales for TOTK and was using Nintendo's own property to compete with them. That incurs civil liability and runs afoul of previous court rulings on the matter (Sony v Bleem). Putting ea behind a paywall isn't the problem, it's using that paywall to compete with a first party IP owner that is. Emulation is protected under the 1st Amendment as long as it's for archival purposes only or clean room reverse engineered.

 

[palladin9479]

The meltdown over on GBAtemp over this is amusing. I understand the few legitimate users of the emulator (i.e. bought the games on Switch and dumped them themselves) being annoyed that they can no longer do that, but it's safe to assume the vast majority of Yuzu users were and are pirates, making their angry takes about Nintendo being "villainous" ring hollow.

I don't have sympathy for the plight of the Yuzu developers, either, as they were clearly enabling piracy and making bank off of it.

Umm .. the product in question is still available and existing versions didn't suddenly self destruct, that's some Apple stuff right there. There simply won't be "new" versions with "new" features or bug fixes released by those projects. And like you said, making money by competing with Nintendo via patreon, then bragging about how you did it during an interview, was not a very smart thing to do.

 

[Deleted member 2969713]

Umm .. the product in question is still available and existing versions didn't suddenly self destruct, that's some Apple stuff right there. There simply won't be "new" versions with "new" features or bug fixes released by those projects. And like you said, making money by competing with Nintendo via patreon, then bragging about how you did it during an interview, was not a very smart thing to do.

Right. I realized my wording ("they can no longer do that") wasn't quite correct after posting it, but I didn't bother to fix it (until now). Existing copies of Yuzu obviously will still exist. But if newer games require tweaks to the emulator in order to be compatible, those tweaks won't be available anymore, and the emulator won't be available to download for newcomers either through "official" means.

 

[palladin9479]

Right. I realized my wording ("they can no longer do that") wasn't quite correct after posting it, but I didn't bother to fix it (until now). Existing copies of Yuzu obviously will still exist. But if newer games require tweaks to the emulator in order to be compatible, those tweaks won't be available anymore, and the emulator won't be available to download for newcomers either through "official" means.

Well ... Yuzu isn't the only Switch emulation btw, just the easiest to use.