Nintendo of America has filed a lawsuit against the creators of the Yuzu emulator. The company alleges this emulator illegally facilitates the running of Nintendo Switch games on Windows, Linux, and Android systems.
Although introduced in January 2018, it was in May last year that Yuzu caught gamers’ attention. This happened when the utility could run the much-awaited Switch-exclusive game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, only a day after its release.
Despite Yuzu developers expressing anti-piracy sentiments, the open-source nature of the emulator meant that gamers could access the leaked Tears of the Kingdom image. This leak happened two weeks before the game’s release.
Nintendo alleges that Yuzu “unlawfully bypasses technological measures” that prevent the running of Nintendo Switch games on other platforms. It also accuses Yuzu of promoting piracy and spreading spoilers.
Nintendo clarifies that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s image was downloaded more than one million times before its release. The company comments, “many pirate sites specifically noted the ability to reproduce the game through Yuzu.”
Nintendo contends that Yuzu’s actions constituted a direct harm to the company and posed an irreparable threat to its intellectual property. It demands monetary compensation and the cessation of the emulator’s development.
There is little doubt that Nintendo will hold Yuzu developers accountable for paying any imposed penalty. For instance, Switch hacker Gary Bowser was fined millions of dollars.
