The day after the Yuzu Emulator for Nintendo Switch shut down completely due to a lawsuit from Nintendo, it’s still unclear what the rest of the emulator community has to worry about. While they took a wait-and-see position, and tried to minimize potential losses (to at least not pay $2.4 million, like Tropic Haze, the creator of the Yuzu emulator).
The developer of the popular Nintendo DS emulator Drastic has just made its app completely free for Android (it used to cost $4.99) and intends to remove it permanently. Exophase’s developer wrote on his official Discord page that “I want to make it clear that I have no financial incentives whatsoever” and that Nintendo’s move simply “made the whole process more urgent,” according to The Verge.
Meanwhile, the popular Discord server for Steam Deck has at least temporarily shut down its entire emulation channel, writing, “At this time, we have no way to address the potential legal ramifications of having discussions about Yuzu or emulation” and apologized for the “necessity of censorship.”
The Discord server for Ryujinx, another Nintendo Switch emulator, is no longer accepting invites.
Another second-order effect: Without Yuzu and Citra (a Nintendo 3DS emulator that also disappeared via Nintendo’s legal department), all-in-one emulation providers like the popular EmuDeck are forced to look elsewhere for basic emulators. EmuDeck goes back to Ryujinx for Nintendo Switch emulation and tests Panda3DS instead of Citra.
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