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Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx gets shut down

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Well, there it is. After what happened with yuzu, many wondered if it would happen, and now it has. Nintendo has shut down the Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx.

Earlier today the GitHub page vanished into a 404 not found error, with some confusion amongst contributors. But it has now been confirmed on the official Discord and on social media that it's not an error. As stated in the post the original creator was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement if they stopped working on it and removed everything related to Ryujinx.

It should be noted, this announcement comes from another contributor riperiperi, not the original Ryujinx creator gdkchan:

Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of. While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is. Rather than leave you with only panic and speculation, I decided to write this short message to give some closure.

These words are my own. I don't want to speak for anyone else here, so just remember that while reading.

Thank you to @everyone who has contributed code, documentation or issue reports to the project. Thank you all for following us throughout the development. I was able to learn a lot of really neat things about games that I love, enjoy them with renewed qualities and in unique circumstances, and I'm sure you all have experiences that are similarly special. I'm extending my own massive thanks to our moderation team, who have been here through some rough circumstances and always found ways to make light of it.

In related news Nintendo recently filed a lawsuit against Palworld maker Pocketpair.

Additionally, Nintendo has continued their crackdown on YouTube videos showing their games being emulated, with Retro Game Corps recently being hit as they explained in a post. Even though it was for the Wii U, a console no longer supported by Nintendo.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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54 comments
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GamingTFM Oct 2
Emulators are legal. Nintendo scaring people with their big army of lawyers. Someone needs to stop this company.
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If you want to play Nintendo games, then buy a Nintendo console. It's as simple as that.

I HAVE been buying Nintendo Consoles all the way back starting with the Nintendo 64. I am even one of the 5 people who bought a WiiU.

But they don't really make TVs with composite slots anymore, everything's HDMI now. So it doesn't matter if I have physical hardware (Which I DO by the way), CRTs are dying one by one, I won't be able to play the games I grew up with forever unless emulators are allowed to exist. A future without emulation is horrifying. Entire generations of culture lost because of hardware that is not compatible with modern TVs.

There is no good argument in favor of removing emulators from existence. If you approve of this, I literally see you as no better than people who burned books under fascist regimes.

Additionally, let's say in a completely hypothetical scenario (which isn't our reality, let's be crystal clear) that all games were still readily available and that I didn't need an emulator to play Geist on modern TVs because N-Space is currently defunct and therefore cannot sell their game on virtual consoles while receiving money for the game. There's still a strong argument in favor of emulation due to being able to remaster games yourself. For example: On a WiiU emulator, you can play Breath of the Wild at 8k 240fps given powerful enough hardware. On a switch, it barely hits 720p 30.

Just wanted to mention, there are hardware solutions like OSSC ; I have one myself, so that I can still enjoy my Megadrive on a 32 inch HDMI monitor
Mezron Oct 2
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As a person that enjoyed emulation. I feel like while work she be done to preserve I also feel like it's free marketing for these company brands and so I just tap out on it often because so many companies abuse their power.

Make it hard to enjoy their stuff.
Pengling Oct 2
Helpful thread with game suggestions: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/6016/
Thanks for the link, there - much appreciated!

I'm relatively certain that once the Switch's lifetime has ended, Nintendo will be a lot less aggressive towards its emulation.
After all, I don't see them going after GB, NES, SNES, N64, DS, GameCube, etc. emulation (unless there is some additional shadiness involved).
Let's hope 5 years from now, when they've moved on to the successor of the Switch, Switch emulators can finally get developed in peace.
They recently went after a YouTube channel for merely showing footage of emulated Wii U games, many years after the Wii U met its demise. And when they went after Yuzu they also rolled Citra in with the same takedown, years after the Switch had replaced the 3DS hardware. (And, purely speculation on my part, but I wouldn't be surprised if they go after Dolphin at some point, too.)

If I had to guess, it'd be that they intend to offer titles for these systems as part of their online subscription, hence going after emulators for consoles whose lifespans already ended.
"See how many lawsuits we can fit in this baby"
slaps roof of Nintendon't
berarma Oct 2
While most comments here imply that Nintendo used extortion, I think it's just an economical agreement. That's how it looks. Nintendo must have offered him a good payment to stop developing the emulator and shutting down everything under his control. Why pay an army of lawyers if you can pay just the main dev?
emphy Oct 2
While most comments here imply that Nintendo used extortion, I think it's just an economical agreement. That's how it looks. Nintendo must have offered him a good payment to stop developing the emulator and shutting down everything under his control. Why pay an army of lawyers if you can pay just the main dev?

As if the potential legal threat isn't going to factor largely into anyone's thinking.

The "that's a nice life you've got there, it'd be a shame if anything were to happen to it" will always be implied when dealing with nintendo about such things.
Desum Oct 3
The shutdown of "switch emulators" is sad, but it's justified. There's no need to emulate current gen platforms: you can buy a game and actually play on real hardware.
Emulation is for preservation.

When the Switch will be discontinued, emulators will come in handy.

Nintendo is partly to blame for using off the shelf components this time around for the Switch. Secondly, when exactly are people supposed to start working on an emulator? The Switch has a much shorter theoretical shelf-life than, say, an N64.
As if the potential legal threat isn't going to factor largely into anyone's thinking.

The "that's a nice life you've got there, it'd be a shame if anything were to happen to it" will always be implied when dealing with nintendo about such things.

Because all it takes is one crazy who's willing to risk it all to actually win to completely fuck Nintendo through precedent. They are in the wrong, and so actually going to court is risky.
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Yeah, nintendo has straight up stopped us all now :
https://i.ibb.co/0B4vbf3/stopped-us.png

Oh, wait. Maybe not.
WORM Oct 3
If you want to play Nintendo games, then buy a Nintendo console. It's as simple as that.

Must not be a fan of WINE or Proton by the same principles, right?
If you want to play Nintendo games, then buy a Nintendo console. It's as simple as that.
with that logic lets stop playing windows games on linux.
If you want to play Nintendo games, then buy a Nintendo console. It's as simple as that.
with that logic lets stop playing windows games on linux.
The GTAV nonsense kind of points once again to the 'Proton is not the full solution, and is really only a bandage, and we really still should be asking for native builds and 1st class citizenship as far as developers are concerned.

It'd be nice if more people would use the Redot engine so it's very easy to port!
neolith Oct 7
The shutdown of "switch emulators" is sad, but it's justified. There's no need to emulate current gen platforms: you can buy a game and actually play on real hardware.
Emulation is for preservation.

When the Switch will be discontinued, emulators will come in handy.
When the Switch will be discontinued, there won't be any emulators left.
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