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Nintendo sue creators of emulator "Yuzu".

SNG32

Member
This is a classic case of letting the shit roll down the hill and become someone else's problem.

This is the way I see it. Unless someone actually goes to the platform holder and gets permission to make an emulator of their current, on-market platform; then that person is doing something illegal. And that is a fight they will always lose if taken to court. These people never go and ask permission, because they all know the platform holder will refuse.

Now most platform holders ignore this, because these emulators are usually always at best, a gen behind. But in the case of the switch, the emulators or current, and even far better than anything the switch's weak hardware can manage. And lets not kid ourselves, if 10 people come out and say, I buy a switch game, so I am in the right to download it and play it on my Switch emulator on PC, 9 of those people are lying and just went and pirated that fuck. That is something they likely would not have done if the emulator didn't exist.

Let us not take industry tropes as if they are standard or conveniently operate in the grey zone because it suits us. That no one gets permission to make an open-source emulator of any platform does NOT mean they are not required to do so. That a lot of people have done it with lots of emulators we know and love does not mean a single one of them are in the right to do so.

Its not right, simple as that. As far as I am concerned, these devs that make these emulators, hacks, rips...whatever; operate firmly within the mythical 11th commandment limits.
If you own the games what does it matter how you play it regardless if the switch is current. The emulator only works if you provide your own keys from your own switch that you bought. Are people pirating and doing other shit of course but the people behind the emulator are not supporting other peoples keys and pirates who leak games.
 

ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.
 
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To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.
Commercial emulators are legal look at analogue pocket and many others, Nintendo them selfs sell emulator consoles, Nintendo are just trying bully yuzu developers and to shut them down. Trust me this will never go to a judge or jury, Nintendo will settle after they have bankrupt them.
 

SNG32

Member
To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.
First of all they have two versions there is a free version. They aren’t selling any Nintendo hardware or software. It’s software that you need your own Nintendo Switch and Own Nintendo software to use. This is the only thing with this lawsuit that is grey area though.
 

Holammer

Member
To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.
Hold on, lemme stop you right there, you're being blinded by your own bias. Plenty of emulation projects are run with public funding. CEMU had some sick monthly earnings that puts the 30k listed here to shame. Xenia, CITRA, RPCS3 and dozens more have Patreon.
Much of Open Source development in general is funded with crowd & corporate money. There's absolutely no problem with that. Not every code contributor is the noble coder warrior you imagine.
 

marquimvfs

Member
Their biggest problem is to have apparently taken significant payments (for early release versions, special builds, etc over time).
Generating profit and being sold as a product is not a problem at all. Precedents are ConectX vgs, that was launched as a payed product for mac, and Bleem, for Dreamcast. The problem, according to Nintendo, is that this product is facilitating piracy, and that is objectively false, given that Yuzu is NOT a way to acquire a pirated game (nor a tool to generate a pirate copy of a game), nor the ONLY way to play a pirated game.
 

ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
Hold on, lemme stop you right there, you're being blinded by your own bias. Plenty of emulation projects are run with public funding. CEMU had some sick monthly earnings that puts the 30k listed here to shame. Xenia, CITRA, RPCS3 and dozens more have Patreon.
Generating profit and being sold as a product is not a problem at all. Precedents are ConectX vgs, that was launched as a payed product for mac, and Bleem, for Dreamcast.
The issue isn't only that profit is involved, nor only that piracy is involved.

It's that the two are obviously linked, in the sense that these authors knowingly used the piracy to generate significant profit, even making statements (Nintendo has screenshotted their Discord and other comms) that show they were proud of the surge in subscriptions caused by the TOTK leak, etc.

If Yuzu just made a big profit, not necessarily a problem.
If Yuzu was used for piracy, not necessarily a problem.

But if Yuzu knowingly used the surge of piracy to turn a big profit, then that's damning--and the best thing for the emulation scene will be if these guys are obliterated and never involved in any project again.
 

tkscz

Member
1GUu6L.jpg


Holy shit -- $30,000 a month.

Yeah, I'm sorry, but these guys are knowingly making bank off of piracy on a large scale. I hope they're taken for all of it, even all the cash they've already spent over the years. Turning it into a business fueled by a wink at piracy gives emulation a bad name and ruins it for the rest of us.
Holy shit. Well they won't need anyone to help them get a lawyer that's for sure
 

marquimvfs

Member
The issue isn't only that profit is involved, nor only that piracy is involved.

It's that the two are obviously linked
Good luck for Nintendo to prove that in a court. Unless the developers are sloppy amateurs and talk about it on the open, it can never be proved. Objectively speaking it is not true. The fact that piracy is, somehow, impulsing their product, is a (happy) coincidence. Not only that, in order to implement piracy protection, it would be necessary to replicate the copy protection, that is, guess what, copyright protected. Cool, isn't? To eradicate piracy in Yuzu, Nintendo itself would need to cooperate with the developers, and is obvious that they won't. They have no choice, they need to circumvent the protection in order to launch a product of their own. That's why ConectX was acquired by Sony, is a battle they can't win, unless, of course, the developers were, in a given moment, sloppy, and gived away a clue that they really are betting on piracy to leverage they product.
 
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ReyBrujo

Member
Nintendo fanboys defending Nintendo's shitty corporate behavior are really the lowest form of life on earth, even lower than people who speak in cinema.
I don't feel like defending Nintendo The Corporation but I'm a developer and I can understand the damage piracy can do to software companies. It doesn't impact me per se because we build software for physicians and them pirating software makes them liable if they kill a patient but I feel it for other developers.
 

Solidus_T

Banned
To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.
I guess they ought to sue every PC part manufacturer as well since, by their logic, they also facilitate piracy by allowing people to build computers which will be used for emulation.
The fact remains that Yuzu devs did not provide or facilitate piracy in any way. Other parties did.
 
I guess they ought to sue every PC part manufacturer as well since, by their logic, they also facilitate piracy by allowing people to build computers which will be used for emulation.
The fact remains that Yuzu devs did not provide or facilitate piracy in any way. Other parties did.

Or automakers, because you can use a car to mow down people.

Or gunmakers, because guns can be used to kill people. Oh wait, California tried that and it doesn't seem to be working out well so far.
 

Holammer

Member
The issue isn't only that profit is involved, nor only that piracy is involved.

It's that the two are obviously linked, in the sense that these authors knowingly used the piracy to generate significant profit, even making statements (Nintendo has screenshotted their Discord and other comms) that show they were proud of the surge in subscriptions caused by the TOTK leak, etc.

If Yuzu just made a big profit, not necessarily a problem.
If Yuzu was used for piracy, not necessarily a problem.

But if Yuzu knowingly used the surge of piracy to turn a big profit, then that's damning--and the best thing for the emulation scene will be if these guys are obliterated and never involved in any project again.
Unless they were involved with acquiring and dumping of the unreleasead cart and put it up for download themselves. It's none of their problem.
It's not illegal to earn money on emulation or be glad you earn said money. You can even take schadenfreude and have a laugh about it.
 

YeulEmeralda

Linux User
To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.

Because Yuzu gets money the emulator is being worked on full time. It took PCSX2 15 years to become decent.
 

Fabieter

Member
and not all of those were played on Yuzu 🙄 there’s also hacked Switches & Ryujinx as well

what’s with all the corporate bootlickers? emulators are legal, why are you all so desperate for them to be illegal? you want to be stuck with the only way to play older games on modern hardware is stuff like the drip fed Nintendo Switch Online apps because Nintendo is greedy & didn’t want to carry over Virtual Console? 🤨 the emulator community is far better and has also given us stuff like RetroAchievements which we’ll likely never see something like that from Nintendo especially

and not all of those were played on Yuzu 🙄 there’s also hacked Switches & Ryujinx as well

what’s with all the corporate bootlickers? emulators are legal, why are you all so desperate for them to be illegal? you want to be stuck with the only way to play older games on modern hardware is stuff like the drip fed Nintendo Switch Online apps because Nintendo is greedy & didn’t want to carry over Virtual Console? 🤨 the emulator community is far better and has also given us stuff like RetroAchievements which we’ll likely never see something like that from Nintendo especially


I don't prioritize legacy issues, but I believe emulating a console halfway into its generation, and potentially even from the start of the next one, should be prohibited.

It's disheartening to witness repeated job losses, yet some individuals find it acceptable to pirate currently available content that is easily accessible everywhere.

If Nintendo were to announce a 10% layoff in a few years, these individuals would contribute to the problem, and everyone involved in legitimate piracy should be concerned as well.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
I don't prioritize legacy issues, but I believe emulating a console halfway into its generation, and potentially even from the start of the next one, should be prohibited.

It's disheartening to witness repeated job losses, yet some individuals find it acceptable to pirate currently available content that is easily accessible everywhere.

If Nintendo were to announce a 10% layoff in a few years, these individuals would contribute to the problem, and everyone involved in legitimate piracy should be concerned as well.
I guarantee emulators and pirates aren't the cause for layoffs across the entire industry.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
I don't prioritize legacy issues, but I believe emulating a console halfway into its generation, and potentially even from the start of the next one, should be prohibited.

It's disheartening to witness repeated job losses, yet some individuals find it acceptable to pirate currently available content that is easily accessible everywhere.

If Nintendo were to announce a 10% layoff in a few years, these individuals would contribute to the problem, and everyone involved in legitimate piracy should be concerned as well.

There is no such thing as "legitimate piracy". Those who rip their own games for private use should be far less "concerned" about layoffs than people who buy used games if we are going to go down that road.
 
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D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
But if Yuzu knowingly used the surge of piracy to turn a big profit, then that's damning
Not legally damning. You might think them scummy to do so, but they’re essentially making a reverse engineered clone system, which is entirely legal if they’re not using any of Nintendo’s IP. “Your entirely legal business is hurting our business!” isn’t going to get them anywhere
 

marquimvfs

Member
To be clear, I don't advocate for piracy, I've done it for myself a few decades ago, even unknowingly as a kid, not anymore. I don't have a Switch, just played some games in a friend's console, and haven't tried the new Zelda. What some people here need do understand is that piracy is more of a moral problem than a harm in the industry. Corporations fight against it just to squeeze every penny whenever possible, not to recover gigantic losses. They have the power and the will to do so, the lawyers are, probably, already payed, so why not? In order to do so, they fight every part somehow involved in the problem and try to paint them like a villain, except they're not. This time, the villain is Yuzu, tomorrow it can be a project that YOU are taking part.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
I don't prioritize legacy issues, but I believe emulating a console halfway into its generation, and potentially even from the start of the next one, should be prohibited.

It's disheartening to witness repeated job losses, yet some individuals find it acceptable to pirate currently available content that is easily accessible everywhere.

If Nintendo were to announce a 10% layoff in a few years, these individuals would contribute to the problem, and everyone involved in legitimate piracy should be concerned as well.
Shitty IQ, resolution and frame rate for full price should be prohibited.
 
Good. People should stop being poor and actually buy their games (Let's be real, no one actually rips their own games from a legally purchased copy. No one buys that bullshit excuse sorry)

Comes off as a very low IQ comment. Maybe work on getting some friends or something. Your delusions of being a Nintendo Lawyer are ruining your life and people just thing your an asshole.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Objection! "illegally" is weasel wording. Dumping of bios/prod keys from YOUR OWN system is a-ok and perfectly legal as long as you don't distribute them.
Otherwise yes, keys are required.
Also weasely because Nintendo claims that the keys can only be dumped using methods that violate the DMCA. They sent a cease and desist letter to the team that made the Lockpick homebrew app last year under such claims, the difference being that team didn't have a Patreon page that was raking in thirty grand a month, and therefore couldn't fight back and immediately folded.
 
Hold on, lemme stop you right there, you're being blinded by your own bias. Plenty of emulation projects are run with public funding. CEMU had some sick monthly earnings that puts the 30k listed here to shame. Xenia, CITRA, RPCS3 and dozens more have Patreon.
Much of Open Source development in general is funded with crowd & corporate money. There's absolutely no problem with that. Not every code contributor is the noble coder warrior you imagine.
I'm sorry but as I understand (correct if I'm wrong) they have a special early non-free version of an emulator and only change from free that it can run the game that not even out yet. Right? Why do you even use and buy that special early version? And how they even developed and tested it on a game that not even out yet? Just asking.
 
Good luck to the Yuzu developers. Whether anyone uses it to play pirate copies or not isn't on them. You can do the same with a Switch. I have a modded Switch and because it's moddable is the single reason I bought it. I could very well play pirated copies of Nintendo's games. I don't play any Nintendo games on it because I played them all 15 years ago on older hardware.
 

Holammer

Member
I'm sorry but as I understand (correct if I'm wrong) they have a special early non-free version of an emulator and only change from free that it can run the game that not even out yet. Right? Why do you even use and buy that special early version? And how they even developed and tested it on a game that not even out yet? Just asking.
Yes, they have a pre-release backer version on Patreon which is one week ahead of the public release.
It might be more compatible, but if it runs new or unreleased games does not matter, the Switch emulators, Yuzu and especially Ryujinx are so mature (past two years) they can handle almost everything out of the box, first try.
 
Yes, they have a pre-release backer version on Patreon which is one week ahead of the public release.
It might be more compatible, but if it runs new or unreleased games does not matter, the Switch emulators, Yuzu and especially Ryujinx are so mature (past two years) they can handle almost everything out of the box, first try.
So they almost 7 years later, because I remember reading same exact thing about Cemu. 28$k per month just to somewhat play Botw. You pay for less glitched expirience, lol.
 

Fabieter

Member
There is no such thing as "legitimate piracy". Those who rip their own games for private use should be far less "concerned" about layoffs than people who buy used games if we are going to go down that road.

Never met someone rip their own games. This was the case for the last two decades for me People hide behind that but most people dont do that.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
Never met someone rip their own games. This was the case for the last two decades. People hide behind that but most people dont do that.

IFireflyl IFireflyl can confirm that we have had DM discussions about legally ripping our own game cartridges. I'd agree that the number of us are a small minority versus the overwhelming number that illegally pirate, but it is an important distinction to make as those doing it the right way have nothing to hide.
 

Fabieter

Member
IFireflyl IFireflyl can confirm that we have had DM discussions about legally ripping our own game cartridges. I'd agree that the number of us are a small minority versus the overwhelming number that illegally pirate, but it is an important distinction to make as those doing it the right way have nothing to hide.

Well, kudos to you, I suppose. However, I believe it's crucial to take action against current-gen emulation, as it makes piracy ridiculously easy during the most crucial timeframe for the software.
 

reinking

Gold Member
IFireflyl IFireflyl can confirm that we have had DM discussions about legally ripping our own game cartridges. I'd agree that the number of us are a small minority versus the overwhelming number that illegally pirate, but it is an important distinction to make as those doing it the right way have nothing to hide.
I have been tempted to try it out since I have several Switch games but currently Switch-less. Controller issues got my daughter's Switch Lite again and so just gave her my Switch. Nintendo needs to be the one sued since every one of our 3 Switch consoles have had multiple controller issues. Too bad she chose the Lite. I warned her. I can always work through her drifting sticks to get a few games dumped or just borrow my old switch. Maybe one day when I am bored.
 
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Scottsy

Neo Member
these guys are fucked because of the patreon

yuzu will have to shut down but the project will live on without the money from patreon

greedy greedy greedy
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Well, kudos to you, I suppose. However, I believe it's crucial to take action against current-gen emulation, as it makes piracy ridiculously easy during the most crucial timeframe for the software.

Personally I'm glad emulation remains legal across the board so we won't agree on that.

I have been tempted to try it out since I have several Switch games but currently Switch-less. Controller issues got my daughter's Switch Lite again and so just gave her my Switch. Nintendo needs to be the one sued since every one of our 3 Switch consoles have had multiple controller issues. Too bad she chose the Lite. I warned her. I can always work through her drifting sticks to get a few games dumped or just borrow my old switch. Maybe one day when I am bored.

Would be nice if Nintendo were served up some of their own medicine, I agree.
 
To those who are saying this is just a typical emulation case, no -- the assholes who run Yuzu are the ones ruining emulation for the rest of us.

Great emulators are community driven, and have no monetary benefit to anyone. But Yuzu pulls in $30,000 per month on their Patreon. That's a business, not a community project.

The lawsuit points to their profit, and specifically with respect to the time frame when TOTK was being pirated ahead of its release.
JKxNAD.jpg


In other words, the evidence shows how Yuzu lined their pockets knowingly by being the main conduit for millions of people to play an unreleased game that was being pirated ahead of its launch. They offered access to special / early builds and used this momentum of the pirated game to make bank.

Nintendo never went after Dolphin, except to keep them off Steam, which is 100% understandable. But they are going after Yuzu because you can't try to create a business out of piracy like this and do it for the hottest current-gen software.

By taking this approach, Yuzu put all respectful emulation projects into danger. They are the problem, and I oppose them strongly because I believe in emulation and community preservation of content/hardware. Every bit of that cash since at least the release of TOTK should be taken back.
no-one cares, they deserve their money, not only Nintendo should be paid for the consoles.
Yuzu allows us to play Nintendo games on pc, they deserve to get paid. Also, they didn't force you to pay, their main version of the emulator is free.
 

Fabieter

Member
Still, Yuzu team doesn't have anything to do with it.

Well arguing that the profit of piracy isn't that far fetched. They know exactly what they are doing. If they want to be the good guys than they should stop take money.

But I get you want to keep the free stuff.
 

graywolf323

Member
Do they also have a profitable Patreon? Because that seems central to the case.
not nearly as successful no but if you really believe that’s the central reason Nintendo is doing this that’s just foolish


also it’s not like Nintendo hasn’t used emulators themselves (and I don’t mean ones they’ve internally developed)


edit: also while there’s some dispute over this, there is evidence that suggests Nintendo might have sold a pirated ROM of their own game instead of doing it themselves legally

 
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