Nintendo plans to scrap emulators for Switch games. The company is currently taking action against the providers of so-called dumping tools that can extract encrypted keys from purchased Switch games and thus make them usable on other devices. Other programs can use this to create images that emulators can use to play Switch games on Android devices and PCs, for example.
Nintendo has now filed copyright complaints with the hoster Github against the dumping tool Lockpick RCM and numerous forks. The tools violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), argues Nintendo. US copyright law prohibits circumventing technological measures to protect against unauthorized access to copyrighted works. The DMCA Complaint by Nintendo was published on Github, the dumping tools are no longer available there. A total of several hundred repositories are affected, reports the portal TorrentFreak.
Emulator Skyline will be discontinued
Nintendo’s action against Lockpick is also affecting the developers of emulators. The Android emulator Skyline will no longer be developed in view of the decision, the developers announced on Github. The team writes that you have to dump your own games in order to be able to develop the emulator – and thus violate Nintendo’s interpretation of your own copyright. “The risks associated with a possible lawsuit are too great for us,” write the developers.
“We cannot proceed knowing that we may be infringing copyright.” Before Nintendo filed the copyright complaints, the team believed that game key dumping was legal. Skyline’s open source code remains available. The developers of the Ryujinx emulator have meanwhile announced that they want to continue their work.
Many users consider dumping their own keys to be legal and justifiable because it requires an original copy of the game. However, emulators can also be fed with black copies that other people have made and distributed on the Internet.
Vor Release von “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”
The timing of the copyright complaints is remarkable: “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” will be released on May 12, the most important exclusive Switch game in years. Even before the release, black copies of the title were distributed online, which can be emulated and played on other devices – a red rag for Nintendo.
Nintendo has proven in the past not to shy away from lawsuits to protect its Switch. In 2020, the Japanese company filed lawsuits against the operators of several websites that sell hacks for the Nintendo Switch. A Canadian provider of hacking tools was even sentenced to prison, from which he has meanwhile been released prematurely.
(dahe)
