Nintendo has taken legal action against Tropic Haze LLC, the company behind the development of the yuzu emulator for the Nintendo Switch. The lawsuit seeks damages for the unauthorized use of the emulator to play pirated games and requests a court injunction to halt the development, promotion, and distribution of the Yuzu emulator.
Nintendo is known for using encryption and cryptographic keys to prevent piracy and protect its game content on its gaming consoles. The company holds copyrights for games on its platforms and strictly prohibits the use of unauthorized devices to play these games.
Legal representatives for Nintendo argue that the Yuzu emulator bypasses technical protection measures put in place to safeguard copyrighted content. The emulator requires decryption keys to run games, which Nintendo claims is a violation of its terms of use. Despite users being responsible for obtaining these keys through third-party tools, Nintendo views this decryption process as circumventing their copyright protection measures.
Nintendo alleges that the Yuzu emulator facilitates the widespread distribution of pirated games by enabling users to play them on computers, rather than just on the original gaming console. The company sees Yuzu as a tool that encourages intellectual property infringement and violates copyright laws.
The lawsuit highlights statements made by a Yuzu developer, suggesting that a majority of users employ pirated keys with the emulator. The Yuzu website even provides instructions on removing these keys from Nintendo Switch consoles and offers tools for unauthorized game copying. The guide also mentions the necessity of system files from hacked consoles for proper game operation on the emulator.