Nintendo takes down over 400 GitHub repositories for Switch emulators in one go — Relentless DMCA strikes tied to piracy concerns over illegal cryptographic keys
Nintendo is doing Nintendo things again as it goes after 7 different master repos containing Switch emulators, which total out to 401 repos wiped in a single day. Most of these belonged to Yuzu forks, such as Suyu, but there was one exception.
Nintendo has recently issued DMCA takedowns against 401 GitHub repositories hosting Switch emulation code, targeting seven repositories in one go. This campaign primarily focused on the Suyu emulator, a fork of the Yuzu emulator, which was previously shut down due to a lawsuit. Nintendo utilized GitHub policies to enforce the takedowns, citing emulators' inherent reliance on circumventing anti-piracy protections built into Switch games.
Most of the affected repositories belonged to the parent repo of Suyu, which had 311 under its wing, leading to their complete removal. The Android-based Skyline emulator, although previously defunct, was also hit with the takedown, despite having no active development in three years. Other repositories affected include Yuzu Android, MonoNX, and the main Yuzu emulator, with varying numbers of associated forks.
Nintendo argues that these emulators illegally circumvent Nintendo's TPM, allowing pirated games to run without the necessary cryptographic keys. The company points to its settlement with Tropic Haze and a default judgment against EveryGameGuru as justification, stating that providing tools leading to piracy constitutes illegal trafficking.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
