Nintendo cracks down on app used to play Switch games for free

AN app has been shut down, and the team Tropic Haze will pay Nintendo $2.4million (£1.9million) after a court case was filed against them.

The team behind the Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu has decided to settle with Nintendo rather than take the case to court.

Nintendo

Emulators are not illegal, as they simply let people run console games on PC.

However, this case hinges on the allegation that Yuzu circumvented technological measures implemented by Nintendo on the Switch by decrypting Nintendo Switch software during runtime.

This would allow users to pirate Nintendo Switch games rather than pay to play them on the console.

The settlement that both Tropic Haze and Nintendo have agreed to means that Yuzu will shut down, and Tropic Haze will no longer be able to develop or distribute the source code.

Tropic Haze was also developing Citra, a popular 3DS emulator which has also been shut down.

The official Yuzu Twitter account announced the settlement alongside the shutdown of the Discord server and Patreon account.

It is believed that Nintendo filed its complaint against Tropic Haze precisely because of the Patreon account, as the Yuzu team was earning thousands of dollars each month to develop the app.

The statement reads: “We write today to inform you that Yuzu and Yuzu’s support of Citra are being discontinued, effective immediately.

“Yuzu and its team have always been against piracy. We started the projects in good faith, out of passion for Nintendo and its consoles and games, and were not intending to cause harm. 

“But we see now that because our projects can circumvent Nintendo’s technological protection measures and allow users to play games outside of authorized hardware, they have led to extensive piracy. 

“In particular, we have been deeply disappointed when users have used our software to leak game content prior to its release and ruin the experience for legitimate purchasers and fans.”

If you want to read more about Nintendo, check out the biggest gaming releases in March.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

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