Not to defend leakers even a bit and Nintendo has every right to go after them legally. However, the emulation crackdown is just Nintendo flexing their legal team on small devs who’ve done everything they can to discourage leaks from spreading within their limited reach. It’s 100% on Nintendo and they themselves are acting in a legal gray zone to bully 3rd parties into giving up. If any of the emulation teams had the resources to simply deal with big N, the situation would probably look a little different.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes leakers are in the wrong but no, they didn’t kill emulation with their actions even when it provoked Nintendo.
The first switch emulator that was taken down (I think yuzu), was justified by Nintendo as copyright infringement because people (including moderators) were sharing copyrighted material openly on their public discord. BIOS files, links to games, and early leaks.
The more recent one (Ryujinx I think) was the one that did things right, so Nintendo didn’t have that copyright leg to stand on. So instead (according to the maintainer of the Mac fork) they sent goons to the house of the head dev in Brazil… to “talk” him into taking it down.
In 1999, Nintendo got a woman in Japan arrested over - and get this - sharing erotic fan art. I’ve read they also might’ve sent private detectives to stalk after her before the arrest, but couldn’t find anything quickly. Anyway it sparked a big shit storm and a debate about what copyright holders are allowed to do, legally and morally.
I read an article about a leather artist who recycled secondhand Gucci (I think? It was a big name fashion brand is all I recall) bags into wallets and things like that, and despite everything being clearly labeled to make sure nobody could mistake it for an official product, they had a similar experience. I wish I could find the article again, because I don’t remember what came of it and my search skills are failing me.
Not to defend leakers even a bit and Nintendo has every right to go after them legally. However, the emulation crackdown is just Nintendo flexing their legal team on small devs who’ve done everything they can to discourage leaks from spreading within their limited reach. It’s 100% on Nintendo and they themselves are acting in a legal gray zone to bully 3rd parties into giving up. If any of the emulation teams had the resources to simply deal with big N, the situation would probably look a little different.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes leakers are in the wrong but no, they didn’t kill emulation with their actions even when it provoked Nintendo.
Small caveat:
The first switch emulator that was taken down (I think yuzu), was justified by Nintendo as copyright infringement because people (including moderators) were sharing copyrighted material openly on their public discord. BIOS files, links to games, and early leaks.
The more recent one (Ryujinx I think) was the one that did things right, so Nintendo didn’t have that copyright leg to stand on. So instead (according to the maintainer of the Mac fork) they sent goons to the house of the head dev in Brazil… to “talk” him into taking it down.
Wait, they sent people to their house? What the fuck? Are they a video game company, or the mob?
You could ask the same thing of Wizards of the Coast who sent goons to a guy’s house over some Magic The Gathering cards.
We live in an age where these two things are becoming interchangeable.
It was literally the Pinkertons. Long-time union infiltrators.
God we really are beyond fucked, aren’t we?
In 1999, Nintendo got a woman in Japan arrested over - and get this - sharing erotic fan art. I’ve read they also might’ve sent private detectives to stalk after her before the arrest, but couldn’t find anything quickly. Anyway it sparked a big shit storm and a debate about what copyright holders are allowed to do, legally and morally.
It’s not even the first time they’ve done this shit
Yes.
I read an article about a leather artist who recycled secondhand Gucci (I think? It was a big name fashion brand is all I recall) bags into wallets and things like that, and despite everything being clearly labeled to make sure nobody could mistake it for an official product, they had a similar experience. I wish I could find the article again, because I don’t remember what came of it and my search skills are failing me.
They are from Japan, so yakuza? They probably just hire local muscle, though.
The Ryujinx dev is Brazilian IIRC.
I mean, they are located in Japan, so it’s not like Yakuza don’t exist (though to be fair Yakuza don’t really target foreigners).
Wow, this is kind of thing that can make one reevaluate what methods are most appropriate when dealing with corruption and oligarchs.
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