Legal action taken by Nintendo against the developers of a Switch emulator has uncovered some eye-opening news about the practices of the creators. The team behind Yuzu have agreed on a settlement to avoid the full discovery of their illegal activity, and will now have to pay a substantial amount of money.
Tropic Haze, which created the emulator, made the decision following the lawsuit which was lodged last week with the US Federal Court. In the suit, it was alleged that the emulator was designed to get around the layers of decryption, which the Switch had in place allowing for games to be played on other devices like the Steam Deck.
What was the extent of the illegal Nintendo emulator?
We can see from the Social Media site X just how alarming the practices of the Yuzu team were, and one feature called ‘Telemetry’ is sure to raise eyebrows. The post by @HikikomoriMedia highlights that according to the Yuzu website, the feature collects anonymous data on the various user’s use of the software.
It was noted recently that legal action had commenced against the creators of the emulator and unfortunately, it is an ongoing battle for the company as there are several more out there. Despite this, there is one less, and Tropic Haze will have to pay $2.4 million in damages and cease and desist the development of the emulator.
The team at Nintendo have been silently watching in the shadows on Yuzu’s Discord observing what has been going on, so much so that Hikiko likens them to Ninjas. Now that they have settled, Nintendo can dig through the various logs that the modders had, given that they handed over all electronic devices, websites etc.
Could we see further legal action from Nintendo?
Whilst it may be no surprise that Nintendo is taking legal action, no doubt many would have thought that it would be against the creators of Palworld. The similarities between Palworld and Pokemon have led many to speculate that there was a copyright infringement, and that action would be taken against the developers. However, at the time of writing, this has yet to materialize.
Given the number of leaks that pre-dated the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the subsequent millions of downloads, there is no shock that the publishers have gone after Tropic Haze in this manner.
It is no doubt disheartening for the honest people who have spent countless hours working and developing this title, only to see it being made available for free by modders.
The practices that Tropic Haze had in place were highly questionable, to say the least, and although they have agreed to stop the development of the emulator, there will be countless others ready to take their place. Unfortunately for Nintendo, this may be an ongoing battle through the court system.
What are your thoughts on the latest news for Nintendo? Are you shocked by the actions of Yuzu? Get in touch, drop us a comment, and let us know your thoughts.
