After being contacted by Nintendo, the original creator of Ryujinx has shut down the Switch emulator.
Nintendo has a reputation for taking legal action, especially when it comes to emulators. The latest target is Ryujinx, the open-source Nintendo Switch emulator for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Ryujinx shut down by original creator
Yesterday, Ryujinx announced that gdkchan, the emulator's creator, was contacted by Nintendo and "offered an agreement to stop working on the project". And it seems like gdkchan has accepted the "offer", which is why the Ryujinx' GitHub has been shut down, now displaying a 404 error, making download of the emulator impossible:
— Ryujinx (@RyujinxEmu) October 1, 2024In March of this year, something quite similar already happened when Tropic Haze LLC settled in their lawsuit with Nintendo of America for $2.4 million, which led to a shut-down of the Switch emulator Yuzu. We expect gdkchan was offered a similarly tempting amount, but that's pure speculation on our part.
So far, gdkchan hasn't given a statement about the situation, but there is very little hope for the emulator coming back.
In the wake of this news, a few junior members of the Ryujinx team members shared details about what they had been working on, including a plan to release ports for iOS and Android. Alas, that certainly won't happen.
What do you think about Nintendo's approach to emulators? Should they ease up a bit, or is this smart?