Nintendo sues Yuzu – what this could mean for emulators
Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against Tropic Haze LLC, the developers of Yuzu, an emulation software for Switch games. But it’s not just about compensation – Yuzu is to cease operations in general. This could set a precedent.
Nintendo is suing the creator of a well-known emulator. The Japanese games manufacturer has filed a lawsuit against Tropic Haze LLC in the District Court of US state Rhode Island. According to them, Tropic Haze LLC is committing copyright infringements under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) with its Yuzu software, financially damaging Nintendo.
What is Yuzu?
Yuzu is software that emulates games from Nintendo’s Switch console, allowing games to run on Windows and Android-based hardware. You can also copy Switch games with Yuzu and play them on your console without actually buying them. However, the latter only works on older models, based on a security vulnerability that Nintendo has since fixed.
Source: Wikimedia
What exactly is Nintendo accusing Yuzu of?
Nintendo claims that Tropic Haze LLC is «facilitating piracy at a colossal scale». They did this by developing Yuzu, a software program that «turns general computing devices into tools for massive intellectual property infringement of Nintendo and others’ copyrighted works». In short, their software can be used for piracy. According to Nintendo, the instructions provided by Tropic Haze also actively encourage people to do the same.
How Nintendo justifies the accusations
Nintendo argues that Yuzu can be used to crack encryption layers of Switch software, making it possible to copy and play Switch software without being authorised to do so. You can only obtain authorisation by purchasing the software properly. But even if you have bought the game, you don’t enjoy fool’s freedom. Nintendo says that even after purchase, users are only authorised to play such a game on an unmodified Switch console. Only Nintendo, as intellectual owner of the software, may decide whether and when the games can be played on another platform.
Unlike previous cases, this isn’t about the emulation technology itself. Nintendo claims that Yuzu is primarily intended to decrypt Switch games. According to them, a large majority use the emulator for precisely this purpose, even if there are theoretically legal applications. In doing so, Nintendo relies on Section 1201(a)(2) of the DMCA.
What does Nintendo want now?
On the one hand, Nintendo wants money, compensation for lost income. The developer justifies its claim for financial compensation, for example, with the fact that Patreon memberships for Yuzu doubled in May 2023, right when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released. yuzu-emu.org also confirms this game is played on the emulator – apparently, it’s even one of the most popular titles on there. According to Nintendo, there were already one million illegal downloads of the game before launch.
Source: Shutterstock
But Nintendo isn’t stopping there. In addition, they’re asking the court to prohibit Tropic Haze LLC from further developing, promoting and distributing the emulator. In plain English, they want the emulator to disappear completely.
Arguments for Yuzu
There are a number of arguments Yuzu could use to defend itself. On a legal, but also on a technical level. Contrary to the legal claim, the open-source emulator doesn’t provide so-called prod.keys, which are required to decrypt Switch games and make them run. Unlike the Dolphin emulator, for example, there’s no circumvention of protective measures here. That emulator comes with these prod.keys. However, Yuzu provides extensive instructions on its website on how you can bypass these protective measures yourself. You’ll also find the necessary software there.
Furthermore, the US Copyright Office generally allows backups of software that has been legally acquired. The big question is whether these backups may also be offered on other platforms. The licence terms asserted by Nintendo that prohibit this (see above) could be restricted by Article 201.40 of the Copyright Act. For archiving purposes to name an example, or to ensure accessibility, as provided for in the 2021 DMCA exemptions. These stipulate that people with disabilities must be able to use alternative input devices to play games. However, Yuzu would have to provide specific examples in court proceedings where this is the case.
Last but not least, there’s also a wide range of software that can be legally operated with Yuzu, Weather and Moon, for example.
What happens now?
This isn’t the first lawsuit that Nintendo has filed in connection with emulators. So far, however, the complaints have tended to concern operators of ROM websites or hardware modders. In principle, there are some precedents in the USA where emulators have been classified as legal. They’ll probably remain so, says lawyer Jon Loiterman to Ars Technica. At most, the techniques needed to decrypt software could be banned.
Source: Reddit
However, if Nintendo is proven right in this case, it could set a new precedent, Loiterman told the portal. Other console manufacturers would probably go to court as a result. However, he thinks it unlikely that the case will actually go to trial. Yuzu is more likely to be taken off the grid and no longer distributed centrally, fearing high damages.
Header image: Reddit / r/SteamDeckModded
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I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
