Just last week, on Tuesday, February 26th, 2024, news broke out about the Yuzu emulator team being sued by none other than Nintendo themselves, with Nintendo claiming that the emulator apparently allowed users to play certain games early (due to street dates being broken) and also allowing piracy of the current Nintendo Switch system.

Today, in a rather surprisingly quick manner, it seems like Tropic Haze LLC., the company behind the Yuzu team, has reached a settlement with Nintendo in regards to the lawsuit. According to a recent official document uploaded just a few minutes ago, Tropic Haze will pay up 2.4 million USD in favour to Nintendo, with both parties agreeing in the settlement and its amount.

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UPDATE: According to the proposed Final Judgement and Permanent Injunction document, Yuzu as a whole in its current form will cease to exist, meaning no further development and prohibition of any distribution of built or source code forms of it.

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Official document of the settlement
Final Judgement and Permanent Injunction

 

[Ondrashek06]

Very sad but yuzu emulator update just released 4 hours ago. I am surprised that Nintendo didnt sue them for Citra 3DS emulator but yuzu ? Interested.

I am sure that someone else will used the source and continue working on it.

Nintendo, I will not buy your next system at all.

Because Nintendo does not give a shit about the 3DS anymore. Online services are bound to end in a few months already.

 

[Noctosphere]

Go fuck yourself Nintendo, seriously.

And now, I fear emulators of all sorts will be next...

Well, just let one of their member release the code as an open source project, under another name.

 

[linuxares]

Well, just let one of their member release the code as an open source project, under another name.

NOPE!

They cannot. Read the settlement

 

[Lotoonlink]

This is a settlement. Not a judgement.

But yes, if they wish. They can go after Ryujinx. I don't think they will, but they could.

Why do you think they won't? I'm speculating here but I think that one of the main reasons for Nintendo to target Yuzu now is because of a potential upcoming Switch 2 that uses a similar hardware architecture to the Switch, enabling Yuzu to become a usable Dolphin-esque Switch/Switch 2 emulator very early in the console's lifespan. Wouldn't Ryujinx fit the same criteria?

 

[jurai]

"fuck you Nintendo"

-person that's mad cuz they want to play Nintendo games

 

[SaulFabre]

Very sad but yuzu emulator update just released 4 hours ago. I am surprised that Nintendo didnt sue them for Citra 3DS emulator but yuzu ? Interested.

I am sure that someone else will used the source and continue working on it.

Nintendo, I will not buy your next system at all.

Citra 3DS i don't think it needs keys for play this emu since it needs decrypted roms btw...

 

[Ondrashek06]

Well, just let one of their member release the code as an open source project, under another name.

As Linuxares said, they're permanently banned from touching Yuzu in any shape or form ever again.

 

[Ericzander]

GBAtemp be like HoW dOeS yUzU fAcIlItAtE pIrAcY?!? wHaT aBoUt FrEe UsE aNd GaMe PrEsErVaTiOn?????

 

[linuxares]

Why do you think they won't? I'm speculating here but I think that one of the main reasons for Nintendo to target Yuzu now is because of a potential upcoming Switch 2 that uses a similar hardware architecture to the Switch, enabling Yuzu to become a usable Dolphin-esque Switch/Switch 2 emulator very early in the console's lifespan. Wouldn't Ryujinx fit the same criteria?

Ryujinx doesn't link to how to break "their copyright" aka. no guide how to install Hekate, Atmosphere etc.
They don't ask for money for early access code, just early access reports.
It's much more just a straight up classic emulator that doesn't try to tell you what you need to do to break stuff basically.

 

[CoolMe]

I want to know why a settlement was reached... Never will I guess. However, it seems a bit odd that if emulation is wholly legal, why did Yuzu bow out? Legal fees? The world will never know..

They took the easy way out, they knew if they took it to court the same result will happen eventually, and Nintendo will make sure to make them bleed money in the process.

 

[Noctosphere]

Because Nintendo does not give a shit about the 3DS anymore. Online services are bound to end in a few months already.

They don't care about 3ds? Come on, they sue people for making rom hack based on GameBoy/GameBoy Advance, which is much more older.

Very sad but yuzu emulator update just released 4 hours ago. I am surprised that Nintendo didnt sue them for Citra 3DS emulator but yuzu ? Interested.

I am sure that someone else will used the source and continue working on it.

Nintendo, I will not buy your next system at all.

up to you, you can either buy the very first version of their console, store it somewhere and wait for it to be hacked, or wait for an emulator, which will take much more time.
I don't know if it still is the case, but there was a time when console makers were making a loss when selling consoles, actually making money from games they sold on it. If it still is the case, buying their next console would actually make them lose money (if you dont buy any game on it)

 

[MariArch]

let’s get the ryujinx devs a place in Russia or somewhere they can’t be touched ASAP

 

[Foxi4]

I fully expected a settlement - nobody wants an actual judgement on this, it’d put the whole emulation scene in jeopardy. Sucks for Yuzu developers, I hope they can raise funds to cover this.

 

[Noctosphere]

As Linuxares said, they're permanently banned from touching Yuzu in any shape or form ever again.

can easily be bypassed. Like, just by giving it to some random dude and say "we got hacked "
Has been done with Pokemon Uranium, could be done here too

 

[linuxares]

Well shit... https://github.com/Ryujinx/Ryujinx/wiki/Keys (If anyone from Ryujinx read this. Delete this!)

 

[Chary]

So, does this mean they were using some sort of illegal code in developing Yuzu? They folded so quick, which is wild.

They don't seem to have gone after Ryujinx, and the Yuzu devs settled for a TON of money, so I'm assuming there's more to this than just creating an emulator.

 

[m00k00]

Ryujinx doesn't link to how to break "their copyright" aka. no guide how to install Hekate, Atmosphere etc.
They don't ask for money for early access code, just early access reports.
It's much more just a straight up classic emulator that doesn't try to tell you what you need to do to break stuff basically.

Indeed, take note of this future emulator devs: do NOT take any money at all for your creation, it will only give vendors like Retardo more points to attack you. Let's wait for the last version of Yuzu and for the fork which will be spread all over the internet, again

 

[linuxares]

So, does this mean they were using some sort of illegal code in developing Yuzu? They folded so quick, which is wild.

They don't seem to have gone after Ryujinx, and the Yuzu devs settled for a TON of money, so I'm assuming there's more to this than just creating an emulator.

The issue is that it's in the US. The one with most money can often drag it out in court. It was more or less no way to win this except for keep getting patreon money to keep up the fight.

Yuzu got LOADS of money each month. 30.000$ a month!

 

[NakedFaerie]

THIS is why I will boycott ALL nintenDOH products from now on.
I'll hack my Switch now.
Thanks for that push NintenDOH.
You are a-holes so I'll just do to you what you are doing to us.

 

[Foxi4]

So, does this mean they were using some sort of illegal code in developing Yuzu? They folded so quick, which is wild.

They don't seem to have gone after Ryujinx, and the Yuzu devs settled for a TON of money, so I'm assuming there's more to this than just creating an emulator.

It means that settling in this manner will cost them less hassle, less money and carries less risk (not just to themselves, but also to other developers) than going through with the full proceedings.