Switch Emulator Yuzu will pay $2.4 Million to Nintendo in Settlement

The creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu, Tropic Haze, have agreed to pay Nintendo $2.4 million USD in damages. Additionally, they have shut down Yuzu and the 3DS emulator Citra. This occurred about a week after Nintendo filed a lawsuit against them. [Thanks, NintendoLife!]

This sudden development was filed earlier today [Credits to Ryan Brown]. Tropic Haze agreed to the settlement without any pushback. They will delete all copies of Yuzu, cease all distribution of the code as well as hand Nintendo any modified hardware.

The developers official statement can be seen below:

pic.twitter.com/158RRUi4Un

— yuzu (@yuzuemu) March 4, 2024

Currently, there's no news on how this case will affect the legality of other emulators.

Author's Note: Oh wow. That was quick. Like, even for Nintendo that was quick.

Credits:
Writing: Thirdkoopa
Editing: @Zerp
Thumbnail Graphic: @Zerp
Social: @Zerp

 

Considering patreon was involved, This was Bound to Happen, Sucks that the 3DS emulator going away, which sucks

 

I am legally obligated to state that I do not support piracy. That being said...this sucks.

 

To be honest that was an emulator for a current gen console, so as long as they continue to support the system Nintendo has the right to take it down, Citra being taken down is unfortunate but its not like other 3ds emulators will take its place

 

From what I've heard (though admittedly I'm running from memory) the main reason they went after Yuzu was something to do with a Patreon-exclusive fix for TotK? I guess that explains the response... but this was pretty quick. Almost makes me wonder if they've had their eye on taking down Yuzu for some time before now.

 

From what I've heard (though admittedly I'm running from memory) the main reason they went after Yuzu was something to do with a Patreon-exclusive fix for TotK? I guess that explains the response... but this was pretty quick. Almost makes me wonder if they've had their eye on taking down Yuzu for some time before now.

Essentially someone leaked TotK but a fair amount of Switch games need help from fan-made patches if you want to run them on Yuzu. So when TotK got leaked, you couldn't play it on Yuzu right away, it took a minute for people to make patches so you could play it. IDK who made them, but it most definitely was not Yuzu's dev team. So it's kind of insane that Nintendo was going after them for that. It's like digging the grave of the guy who invented the musket and suing him for inventing assault rifles. (Maybe not the best analogy but you get my point, Yuzu wasn't at fault for the TotK emulation)

 

This is awful. Very concerning that the Switch patents would still be active after so much time.

EDIT: OH MY ****ING GOD THEY TOOK DOWN CITRA TOO???? CITRA???? THEY ARE NOT SELLING THE 3DS ANYMORE.

 

That statement makes it sound like Nintendo put software protections in the Switch itself that naturally wouldn't exist in an emulator that wasn't based on their proprietary code. So their reason for going after this emulator might stem from people being able to play leaked content early and not necessarily generic piracy complaints.

But lol at taking this down on complaints about software abuse when the pirates are technically abusing Yuzu in the first place. It goes to show what I said in another topic about copyright law being a weapon for wealthy corporations and not something that actually protects anything valuable. And the fact that they took an unrelated emulator with it really seals the deal. I wouldn't be surprised if Tropic Haze declined to fight this because they would be bankrupt before they could prove their case.

But 2.4 million over an emulator is pretty amazing. I love how corporations can just make **** up when it comes to hypothetical (read imaginary) losses, but software developers have to be responsible for other people abusing their software. Citing a download count is predicated on the idea that people would purchase the software if they were unable to pirate it. And that is not true in my experience if only because the software is not licensed for sale in some countries.

 

Well its bad that people cant play on those emulators anymore but Tropic haze pushed their luck and made questionable choices so nintendo was sorta forced to do it as to not risk potentially losing copyright! (Its a long story watch moon channel)
As someone who worried a ton about copyright i understand were nintendo is coming from a lot of the time!

 

idk how in this day and age anyone who delves into emulation and ROM Hacks and such doesn't get that you really shouldn't draw more attention to yourself than necessary and should never consider trying to get any cash flow from your projects at all. Nintendo has a history of being extremely eager to shut down anything they haven't officially sanctioned, particularly once money enters the equation.

That said, I have no interest in going to bat for Nintendo or any corporation really, because a) **** corporations, and b) piracy is a "problem" entirely of their own creation and hardly the crime they want you to believe it is.

 

I am legally obligated to state that I do not support piracy. That being said...this sucks.

I support piracy.

 

I support piracy.

that explains the parrot