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Yuzu, the popular Nintendo Switch emulator, ceased operations today following a lawsuit filed by Nintendo against the developers. Yuzu’s parent company, Tropic Haze, and Nintendo jointly filed a motion to settle the lawsuit. As part of the settlement, Yuzu will pay Nintendo $2.4 million, destroy all copies of Yuzu and the 3DS emulator Citra, and relinquish control of their Yuzu URL to Nintendo, pending approval from a judge.
Nintendo has a history of taking legal action against perceived threats to its intellectual property, such as prosecuting Switch hacker Gary Bowser and targeting rom hosting websites like Rom Universe. The proposed settlement specifies that developing or distributing software that circumvents technological measures violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Upon visiting Yuzu’s website, visitors will find a statement announcing the discontinuation of Yuzu. The developers emphasize their stance against piracy and express disappointment in users leaking game content. They are taking steps to shut down their repositories, Patreon accounts, Discord servers, and websites.
Nintendo’s complaint highlighted the developers’ use of Patreon for profit through Yuzu’s distribution. While legal cases involving emulation have been lenient in the past, the language in the settlement raises concerns about the vulnerability of other emulators to future legal action.
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