Nintendo has issued a takedown request for more than 8,500 copies of code of Switch emulator Yuzu, which was shut down in March 2024 as its owners paid out $2.4 million in a lawsuit settlement.
As reported by PC Gamer, developer platform GitHub saw 8,535 repositories of Yuzu code removed after Nintendo issued the takedown request on April 29.
Users of the website had uploaded copies of the code after Yuzu was shut down, essentially allowing continued free access to Nintendo Switch games using software that “is primarily designed to and unlawfully circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under the DMCA,” according to Nintendo.
“The reported repositories offer and provide access to the Yuzu emulator or code based on the Yuzu emulator,” the claim said. “Yuzu illegally circumvents Nintendo’s technological protection measures and runs illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games.”
This echoed wording Nintendo used when it sued Yuzu creator Tropic Haze, when it also said the $70 game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo’s premiere video game release of 2023, had been pirated one million times before it was even released.
Nintendo has consistently taken legal action to protect its copyrighted content. Game file sharing website RomUniverse was ordered to pay $2.1 million in damages to Nintendo in 2021, while a similar case saw it receive more than $12 million in damages in 2018. It also blocked GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin from releasing on PC game platform Steam.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.