Nintendo Switch Emulator Ryujinx Shut Down By Nintendo

Nintendo Switch Emulator Ryujinx Shut Down By Nintendo

Nintendo may have just won its battle to put the most popular Nintendo Switch emulators out of business. After suing Yuzu out of existence in March, it may have convinced Yuzu’s primary competitor, Ryujinx, to go away too.

Ryujinx’s Sudden Disappearance

Ryujinx’s download page is now empty, its GitHub is gone, and the emulator’s X social media page and official Discord now contain a possible explanation: Nintendo got to its lead developer, and convinced them to shut down the project for good.

According to developer and moderator ripinperiperi, Nintendo contacted the lead developer gdkchan and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization, and all related assets. While awaiting confirmation, the organization was removed, suggesting that the outcome was already decided.

Nintendo’s Crackdown on Emulators

While emulators are technically legal, Nintendo can file lawsuits that indie developers cannot afford to fight, file DMCA takedown requests, or put pressure on organizations like Discord and GitHub to pull things down themselves. There are even legal theories that suggest Nintendo could win a case if it went to court, due to the copy protection mechanisms in the Switch and the argument that some modern emulators are trafficking in piracy.

What’s Next for Ryujinx?

Although it seems likely that this is the end of the official Ryujinx team, it’s possible that forks of Ryujinx will spread across GitHub and the web, or that their code will become the basis of future emulators. As with Yuzu, offshoots like Suyu are still available, on their own self-hosted servers.

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