Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx has ceased development
A developer was contacted by Nintendo of America with "an agreement" to stop working on the project.
The emulator scene for Nintendo is one fraught with cease and desists, and the latest to feel the wrath of Nintendo is Ryujinx. The project was working on emulating Nintendo Switch titles.
On October 1, 2024, X user OatmealDome brought it to the social media platform’s attention that Ryujinx has ceased development with all downloads and GitHub repositories having been removed. The user offered a screenshot of the project’s Discord channel showing a message outlining the reason behind the project ceasing development.
According to the message, Nintendo contacted gdkchan and “offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he’s in control of.” The post goes on to state that the organization has been removed while they were waiting on confirmation as to whether gdkchan would accept the offer.
This situation with Ryujinx isn’t the first time a Nintendo emulator has ceased development and it probably won’t be the last. It was just in March 2024 that the Yuzu developer ceased distribution of a Switch emulator and had to pay Nintendo $2.4 million in settlement fees.
Outside of the emulator scene, Nintendo has recently filed a lawsuit against Palworld parent company Pocketpair Inc. The lawsuit is on the grounds that Palworld infringes multiple patent rights. The game’s developer has responded stating it is “unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon.”
For now, it seems like Switch emulation will continue to be stopped by Nintendo. Take a look at our Nintendo Switch page for more information on the Big N’s phenomenally successful console-handheld hybrid.
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replySam Chandler posted a new article, Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx has ceased development
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What do people expect to happen when their biggest game release of the year has the ROM dumped again before reviews even hit the Internet? Screenshots and videos of Echoes of Wisdom were posted all over the place ahead of the game's retail release. It may not be cool to do this, but why is anyone surprised by how they are acting? What happened last year with the TOTK ROM leaks cost them millions of dollars.
I am not defending Nintendo's lawyers, but I am really curious why people are surprised by this kind of behavior from the company? What should they do instead?-
Well, telling ryujinx to shut down doesn't stop the Zelda leak from happening since ryujinx didn't leak it right? Whatever money they lose from having a Zelda ROM out early isn't offset by getting an emulator shut down.
Emulators aren't the problem causing lost sales - how the ROM got leaked early is the problem as I see it.
As to what N should do to fight piracy - I guess try to make a console that isn't trivially cracked like their last 3 generations
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Nintendo has set a messy precedent with how they handled YuZu before this. I agree that emulation isn't the core problem, but Nintendo has claimed that these Switch emulators are breaking some sort of copyright protection (encryption) in the emulation software itself. Yuzu allowed anyone to “unlawfully decrypt and play virtually any Switch game," was what the company alleged earlier this year.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/138907/nintendo-switch-yuzu-emulator-lawsuit -
People aren't cancelling their pre-orders just because the ROM became available a few days before release. All Switch carts can be dumped to ROM, so it was always going to be available at some point.
Emulators are definitely causing some loss of sales though because it allows people to play these games for free.
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I don't think anyone is surprised. I suspect the immediate focus isn't even because of TOTK or the more recent Zelda, both of which will be massively successful, but rather the Switch 2.
They're scared of a repeat of the late GBA or DS era where dirt cheap pirate hardware was so ubiquitous that it did measurably scare off third party investment in the platform.
Nintendo has never been good at security and I assume they know it at this point. They're terrified they launch a console and have computers emulating it immediately - and with the Deck popularizing handheld form factors, even that wouldn't be a saving grace for them.
But going after the emulators isn't the right choice, and it really rings hollow when you see how many pirate systems you can buy directly off of Amazon that have dozens or even hundreds of Nintendo titles, out in the open, with no obvious action taken.
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I might be in the minority here, but I'm fine with Nintendo shutting down a switch emulator. SNES emulation is fine, N64 Emulation is fine, Gamecube emulation is fine, MAYBE we're approaching where Wii emulation is fine, but I also kind of feel like that's the line. Emulation is about preserving games that we can no longer play/buy due to techonolgy, electronic, age or other restrictions. None of those factors are in play for the switch right now. Being angry at nintendo for preventing you from playing the new zelda game on your computer illegally is a little weird. Don't come to me with the "I bought the game, I legally own it!" argument. Ain't no one else in this world doing that, they are just playing the equivalent of a pirated game.
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It makes sense that they'd target Switch emulation now since it'll likely be possible to extend that to emulation of its successor, much like how Dolphin was able to capture the Gamecube and Wii in parallel. I don't really like it, but you're bang on with how an overwhelming majority of people use it (easily over 99%), so it's hard for me to get upset about seeing projects get mothballed for the next decade. I'm way more interested in seeing dead systems with proprietary libraries get emulated anyhoo. I think Sony and Microsoft have been pretty good at combating most retro piracy by virtue of actively bringing out bits of the back catalog at little-to-no-cost. Having PS1/PS2 purchases from the PS3 era get grandfathered into the PS4/PS5 or being able to throw in original Xbox and 360 discs to play on a 1X or Series X is just awesome. I think Nintendo screwed the pooch once they started deliberately avoiding a backwards compatibility path in order to resell the same games over and over again, but apparently it's working out ok for them because they're selling stuff like hotcakes.
Trying to stay optimistic about their approach with their next system and hopeful that we'll get at least another 10 years of use out of our Switch libraries.-
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They're fairly linear and most of the encounters aren't too bad to evaluate, break down, and exploit. I always really appreciated that about them. I've only played the PS2 and Gamecube versions of the first game to be able to compare them against the Xbox/PC releases, but those were easier with less populated enemy routes in case you wanted a bit of an easier onboarding. The HD release of 1-3 on PS3 is based on the PS2 versions IIRC. The prices on it aren't as attractive as they were pre-pandemic, but it's competitive versus getting the Xbox releases.
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I bought the game, I legally own it!
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Yeah the majority will always take advantage and ruin good things for people doing things the hard way/honest way.
To me, Nintendo is hinging a lot of success in Switch 2 on backward compatibility and enhanced framerate, which is nullified in a sense by emulation available right now (well, right yesterday).
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If Nintendo forces me to, we can make it physical.
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Yeah, I'm fine with this as well. It's current gen for them, not like they're shutting down GBA emulators. Especially with the imminent release of the Switch 2 which will play these games too, so it is pruning sales of games. Sure, you can buy the game, and "make a backup" but come on..
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I wonder if the Switch 2 architecture is similar enough to the Switch 1 architecture that Switch 2 emulators will be relatively easy to develop (like how Wii and Gamecube capability were basically able to be developed in parallel on Dolphin). And Nintendo is trying to get ahead of that. So we don't see viable Switch 2 emulation 2 years into its existence
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I assume it'll be even easier than Dolphin since it won't have to account for so many different input methods.
This seems like its more like going from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 15 or gen-8 to gen-9 consoles, same software support but with more performance and more available features for software that wants to use it.
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New archived website already available for downloads - https://ryujinx-emulator.com
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