In what could possibly be the worst way to start October for emulation enthusiasts, as of just a few minutes ago the Ryujinx repository appears to be down, with the usual "404" message being given when trying to enter any of their related GitHub pages. Not even the main Ryujinx developer account seems to be active.

Currently there hasn't been any official reports as to why this occurred. None of the official social media accounts for the emulator have given any response, nor has any of the developers talked about why the repository is down, but we'll be sure to keep you updated whenever any new developments towards this situation are known.

UPDATE #1: Given the nature of the page being down with a 404 message, it's possible that this could be related to the removal of the Ryujinx account, and not a DMCA. If the repository suffered from a DMCA claim, then the DMCA notice would appear when entering the repository. However, that is not the case, and the DMCA listings from GitHub doesn't have any recent entries for Ryujinx.

UPDATE #2: The Ryujinx Discord server has paused invites for the moment, and additionally, one of the Discord mods posted the following message:
"To clarify, it's not a DMCA, it's not an issue with GitHub. Please wait for further information and refrain from spreading misinfo thanks."

UPDATE #3: According to an official statement on Ryujinx's Discord server, developer gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and they were offered an agreement to stop working on the emulator project, and while the agreement wasn't confirmed yet, the organization has been entirely removed.

UPDATE #4: According to other devs, the developer was not only contacted, but actually tracked down by Nintendo to his location, and pressured to developer to cease and abandon development altogether for the emulator.

This marks now the 2nd and only main remaining Switch emulator that Nintendo has taken down as of today, and without any proper and clear protection when it comes to emulation and preservation down the road, it's likely that Nintendo will continue on its efforts to bring down emulation as a whole.

Ryujinx GitHub Repository

 

[JustABadger]

That's a misconception. One that people frequently fall into. Sony did attempt to sue for "unfair competition" since Bleem allowed the PS BIOSs to be used on PC, but that got shot down by the judge almost immediately to "protect David from Goliath". The case that Sony had battled Bleem over was Bleem using PS1 images to compare to Bleem emulation - something that the district court suled in favor of Sony for, but that Bleem successfully appealed, since Bleem's use of the screenshots constituted "comparative advertising" and thus fell under fair use.

Are we having the same conversation here? I don't think we are.

What happened to English classes? Where have I said that emulators are illegal? Or that they shouldn't be commercial? What the actual fuck people.

 

[NinStar]

are you saying that Bleem stole code from Sony servers?

No, the point being made is that an emulator being monetized or not is irrelevant. I don't know why a lot people still have this misconception that emulators can't be sold.

 

[JustABadger]

I don't know why a lot people still have this misconception that emulators can't be sold.

Show me where I say that and I'll paypal you $1,000

 

[Lumpofcoal]

I'm surprised at the dev just suddenly folding like that, given how long it has resisted. Even more so considering that ninty never had a legal leg on them. I mean, I'm sure ninty had plenty of "conversations" with him before this but he was never fazed by it. What's so different about it this time?

I hate to say it but it's likely he was "bought out". By "bought out", I don't mean ninty buying the project.

But on a positive note, since it isn't a dmca or a court enforced action (eg yuzu) that resulted in the shut down, it means anyone else is legally free to continue with it, provided they continue to stay within the bounds that has kept ryujinx safe for so long. Of course....until they can't resist the next lucrative "agreement" thrown their way.

 

[NinStar]

Show me where I say that and I'll paypal you $1,000

You replied to this

Bleem was sold in stores. This argument doesn't hold up

I was just clarifying what that meant, and to be honest your original message implied (intentionally or not) that using someone else's work and monetizing it was part of the problem, as far as I know the former doesn't apply to Ryujinx, so bringing that up isn't really relevant to the case here. Also, if they were using their priority support for something nefarious Nintendo would still have to prove it.

 

[Darth Meteos]

A: Give away software for free to entitled assholes
B: potentially get paid a wad of cash.

Wonder what most people would choose here?

Yeah, I have no illusions about the trade-off. It's just demoralizing. Nintendo successfully shut down a whole thriving sub community by waving lawyers and money at the problem. Unless somebody acts against their own interest, that cycle will continue forever.

 

[koolas]

real?

 

[Jayro]

People need to host their projects on platforms where they can't be taken down.

 

[NostalgicMillennial]

People need to host their projects on platforms where they can't be taken down.

There's a GitHub clone based in Russia where PayWallsClean is now being hosted and...I suggest that we as a collective start fucking using it

 

[luisedgarf]

People need to host their projects on platforms where they can't be taken down.

Like in a Russian or Chinese site?

Let's be real here: FOSS is only free and open as much as someone can allow. Just look what happened with the Godot engine.

 

[Lumpofcoal]

People need to host their projects on platforms where they can't be taken down.

That is true but in this instance, it is the dev who voluntarily gave it all up due to having seemingly sold out. Even if they were to put it on platforms that ninty can't reach, it would still go down if ninty throws enough money the devs way to convince them to take it down. There are two parts to the equation : one is the platform hosting the project, the other is the dev who controls it.

On a positive note, since this isn't a result of dmca or some other legal action, it means that anyone can just set up "ryujinx" on github again. We have to remember that ninty has never been able to dmca it even once during its entire long existence on github and its legal is the sort that would have studied the entire dmca playbook like it was the bible.

In effect, the only real "loss" here is that the lead dev will no longer be working on it. But that's not to say he can't create another one.

 

[Vinnymac]

So… who wants to anonymously develop a switch emulator on a decentralized platform that builds and publishes binaries all over the web choosing nodes at random?

Sounds like a fun problem to solve.

 

[Maq47]

I'm surprised at the dev just suddenly folding like that, given how long it has resisted. Even more so considering that ninty never had a legal leg on them. I mean, I'm sure ninty had plenty of "conversations" with him before this but he was never fazed by it. What's so different about it this time?

I hate to say it but it's likely he was "bought out". By "bought out", I don't mean ninty buying the project.

But on a positive note, since it isn't a dmca or a court enforced action (eg yuzu) that resulted in the shut down, it means anyone else is legally free to continue with it, provided they continue to stay within the bounds that has kept ryujinx safe for so long. Of course....until they can't resist the next lucrative "agreement" thrown their way.

There are other possibilities... It is possible that Nintendo knew the identities and addresses of most of the dev team for the emulator, and Nintendo gave the leader an ultimatum: completely eradicate his own project or he would have all his 'friends' rounded up and sued into the ground for anything that they can sue them for. That kind of bombshell would be reasonable to keep secret from his dev team, and would explain why they didn't know the details of the 'deal'. Less likely, but also possible is that the head dev had family in the states that Nintendo found dirt on and threatened to sue them if he didn't comply. In other words, Nintendo didn't have to threaten to sue HIM in order to force his hand, just someone close to him.

 

[jesus96]

I don't support Nintendo when it comes to aggressive stuff like this but you need to admit that this was the users fault by sharing the new unreleased Zelda game running on ryujix on social media like Twitter,since the rumor of the game being leaked 2 weeks before and having some screenshots of ryujix without censorship would make nintendo check the emu

Like if you pirate something it's your deal but if you make some emu viral on a social media don't expect the company to not check anything,I remember everyone who shared these saying that it was ryujix without problems not to mention the official leak with everyone sharing the steam deck running ryujix as well

On the bright side it wasn't an aggressive CaD and the dev didn't need to pay millions because supposed harming on Nintendo because unlike the yuzu team they didn't share unreleased games on their discord and leaked builds who run the game behind Patreon and shit like that

 

[Lumpofcoal]

There are other possibilities... It is possible that Nintendo knew the identities and addresses of most of the dev team for the emulator, and Nintendo gave the leader an ultimatum: completely eradicate his own project or he would have all his 'friends' rounded up and sued into the ground for anything that they can sue them for. That kind of bombshell would be reasonable to keep secret from his dev team, and would explain why they didn't know the details of the 'deal'. Less likely, but also possible is that the head dev had family in the states that Nintendo found dirt on and threatened to sue them if he didn't comply. In other words, Nintendo didn't have to threaten to sue HIM in order to force his hand, just someone close to him.

That would be rather extreme even for ninty. They can't even legally DMCA the project, I'm not sure on what legal basis they are going to pursue individuals who work on it.

 

[doorbell8423]

.

 

[ertaboy356b]

Been looking at this since it happened and by the time I woke up, RyujinX the is dead.

 

[doorbell8423]

.

 

[ertaboy356b]

"better than yuzu"

ryujinx performance is garbage lol

It's ZSNES vs Snes9X all over again.

 

[Darkedone02]

After the events of today and now that there is no switch emulator alive to keep support of the platform, and how nintendo continue to be the black company as it is today. They continue to fight against a service needed, they continue to be consumed by endless greed.

All we wanted for nintendo to do is to release their games on other platform and allow people to choose how they want to play their games, and we be ready to hand them cash. Super Mario World on steam for 20 dollars? your going to get alot of money... but they keep FAILING to PROVIDE A SERVICE! PIRACY WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN CAUSE THEY KEEP FAILING TO PROVIDE A SERVICE! They REFUSED to learn the lessions of how music piracy died, and HOW it actually becomes a win/win for both parties when spotify and pandora existed, bandcamp, and all these other services came to life.

THIS fight, THIS battle, will keep happening until the service is provided. Ad infinum, Hydra After Hydra (hail hydra). THERE WILL BE NEW TEAMS, THERE WILL BE NEW FIGHTS, and PEOPLE WILL PROVIDE WHERE YOU FAILED TO PROVIDE.

Because of nintendos actions, I'm no longer interested in purchasing your games, I've gave you money for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but I did it so I could play it on my PC, and now your taken away the tools of how I want to play it, AND YOUR SWITCH PERFORMANCE SUCKS! I WANT 60 FPS! I WANT 1080P GRAPHICS! I WANT MODS AND CHEATS TO MESS AROUND WITH! YOU FAILED TO PROVIDED ANY OF THAT SHIT! GUESS WHAT! YOU CAN STARRRRRRVVVVVEEEEEEEE.