Nintendo applies legal pressure and forces Ryujinx emulator offline

Ryujinx ceased its operations after Nintendo took legal action against the developer. Nintendo continued its anti-emulator purge by contacting the developer and initiating proceedings to get the emulator offline. Nintendo had successfully taken down another emulator, Yuzu earlier in the year.

Nintendo continued its march against Switch emulators by getting Ryujinx to halt its operations. The developer’s journey, which started in 2018, ended on October 1st, 2024, despite the development of emulators being a legal occupation.

Nintendo ends Ryujinx’s run

pic.twitter.com/2Ggt9SWoDI

— Ryujinx (@RyujinxEmu) October 1, 2024

An official post announced that Nintendo had contacted Ryujinx’s lead developer, gdkchan, to halt its operations. Ryujinx’s response was a screenshot of a Discord post by the user Rip in peri peri, made on October 1st. According to the post, Nintendo proposed an agreement that would see Ryujinx ceasing further development of its Switch emulator and removing the organization and all the assets that they were in control of.

The post also stated that while waiting for gdkchan to respond on whether he’d agree to the proposition, the organization had already taken down, and the post would serve as a form of closure to prevent further speculation. The announcement ended with a brief section thanking the involved parties and those who supported them throughout their journey with Ryujinx.

Ryujinx rose to popularity after beating Nintendo’s console’s performance when emulating The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

The takedown marked the second instance of Nintendo taking down an emulator this year. In February, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Yuzu and accused the emulator developer of promoting piracy. Yuzu’s developers, Tropic Haze LLC, lost the case and were ordered to pay Nintendo $2.4 million in addition to shutting down the project.

Ryujinx’s case saw Nintendo take a softened stance with the Switch creators, allowing gdkchan to remove its GitHub repository and download links. Ryujinx’s base in Brazil is speculated to be an influential factor in how Nintendo approached the case. 

Users speculate over the future of emulators

Nintendo’s decision to remove the two main Switch emulators sparked online debates about the implications of the legal actions for emulator development. Many users pointed out Nintendo’s history of aggressive lawsuits against developers, arguing that it would prevent emulator innovation.

The users also discussed anonymity as a preventive measure against legal action in such cases. The use of anonymous leads was identified as a possible way developers could create such projects without having to worry about legal action.

“With both main switch emulators being brought down, is the future of emulation decentralized and anonymous development with no official person/organization heading the development? Wouldn’t something like that be impossible to legally challenge?”

–Supereuphonium

Some users criticized Nintendo for taking action against the main simulators after the Switch console had reached the end of its relevant lifespan. The users stated that more clone sites would be back up within a week.

However, other users argued that Nintendo’s decision was tied to the release of its upcoming Switch 2 console. MrNegativ1ty stated that Nintendo’s crackdown was to help protect the release of the Switch 2 console that would most likely have backward compatibility for its games.