Nintendo sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice to 8,000+ GitHub repositories hosting code for the Yuzu Switch emulator, which the Zelda maker previously described as allowing “piracy on a colossal scale.” The big takedown comes two months after Yuzu's creators quickly settled a lawsuit with Nintendo and its notoriously easy-going legal team for $2.4 million.
GameIndustry.biz first reported in the DMCA notice, which affects 8,535 GitHub repositories. The censored entities representing Nintendo claim that the Yuzu source code contained in the repositories “illegally circumvents Nintendo's technological protection measures and runs illegal copies of Switch games.”
GitHub wrote in the notice that developers will have time to change their content before it is disabled. In keeping with its developer-friendly approach and brand, the Microsoft-owned platform also offered legal resources and guidance on how to file DMCA counter-notices.
Nintendo's legal blitz, perhaps not coincidentally, comes at a time when game emulators are enjoying a resurgence. Last month, Apple loosened its restrictions on retro game players in the App Store (likely in response to regulatory threats), leading the Delta emulator to establish itself as the de facto choice and reach the top spot on the App Store. Nintendo may have calculated that the momentum of emulators' success was threatening its bottom line and began by crushing those that most immediately jeopardized its revenue stream.
Unfortunately, Nintendo's largely helpless legal attack on emulators ignores a crucial use For them that is not about piracy. Game historians see software as a lynchpin of game preservation. Without emulators, Nintendo and other copyright holders could make a piece of history obsolete for future generations, as its corresponding hardware will eventually become harder to come by.
