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

 

[Bladexdsl]

there isn't a fight against Nintendo you're making this sound like an actual war when it's literally just about video games

IT IS a fucking war and it began in the wii era which they lost big time. the wiiu was a draw because no one cared about it so now they are using sneaky underhanded tactics this time to win!

 

[NostalgicMillennial]

Maybe things aren't so rosy at Nintendo after all.

Nah, they're just greedy fucks with ancient obstinate leadership still thinking this is 1985 and there cannot be any competition

 

[Ettino]

It's either free money, or deal with possibly years of litigation headache

Miyaoto himself was there. He offered GDK a place in Nintendo Switch 2™ initiative.

 

[ut2k4master]

(snip)

the "fuck around and find out" list

 

[Fyrus]

Life is more important than some people wanna pirate roms and play.

People that don't even care sometimes, they just want their toy to continue playing while ignoring the devs that have a (sometimes hard) life

 

[linuxares]

People that don't even care sometimes, they just want their toy to continue playing while ignoring the devs that have a (sometimes hard) life

Yepp! Very common that some are entitled but doesn't want to provide anything.

 

[SeventhSon7]

This is quite a well put together list, do you have a direct link to it? (as far as it doesn't involve it being in a piracy site)

I don't, just the image.

I disagree with the comment on Miiverse: it was pretty cool on Wii-U, the "fuck Nintendo" part is ending it... it was soulful "social media"

 

[de-void]

Miyaoto himself was there. He offered GDK a place in Nintendo Switch 2™ initiative.

Lmao.

As funny as this is, I've seen emu devs have their cores/code used commercially, specifically to being older games to newer platforms. In some cases, ignoring permission.

I wouldnt be surprised if this was part of the agreement. We won't know until there are more details.

 

[Shinox]

So Nintendo DOXXED the Ryujinx head developer house location in Brazil .. WENT TO HIS HOUSE LIKE A LITERAL MAFIA AND ASK HIM TO SHUTDOWN EVERYTHING AND HAND OVER MONETIZATION INFO INCLUDING THE PATREON PAGE .. HELLOOO !???? isn't that borderline illegal to doxx someone and secretly blackmail them IN THEIR HOUSE .. like at this point doxxing should be a sueable offense and the head developer should take actions to get his rights back

 

[ut2k4master]

So Nintendo DOXXED the Ryujinx head developer house location in Brazil .. WENT TO HIS HOUSE LIKE A LITERAL MAFIA AND ASK HIM TO SHUTDOWN EVERYTHING AND HAND OVER MONETIZATION INFO INCLUDING THE PATREON PAGE .. HELLOOO !???? isn't that borderline illegal to doxx someone and secretly blackmail them IN THEIR HOUSE .. like at this point doxxing should be a sueable offense and the head developer should take actions to get his rights back

thats not what doxxing is

 

[Shinox]

thats not what doxxing is

BROTHER .. that's the definition of doxxing tracking down someone house via hacking

 

[ut2k4master]

BROTHER .. that's the definition of doxxing tracking down someone house via hacking

no, doxxing is releasing that information publicly

 

[Shinox]

no, doxxing is releasing that information publicly

 

[ut2k4master]

View attachment 462315

and now read the complete sentence and not just the underlined part, jeez

 

[SylverReZ]

Well, back to suyu then I suppose.

Not recommended. Compatibility with Suyu is only half compared to Ryujinx. It's best to stick with Sudachi if you want the latest emulator.

 

[Shinox]

and now read the complete sentence and not just the underlined part, jeez

you don't understand, a lot of people sue for stuff like this even content creators who gets secretly doxxed and tracked and get stalked or blackmailed and it all falls under the same umbrella , what Nintendo did was borderline invade of someones privacy by tracking down his location IN BRAZIL of all places

 

[Trash_Skirt]

I'm so glad I copped a copy of Ryu last week. still this is terrible ( v_v)
I really wanted to learn all the wonders of switch emu especially since I recently modded my little erista >_<

womp womp

 

[ut2k4master]

you don't understand, a lot of people sue for stuff like this even content creators who gets secretly doxxed and tracked and get stalked or blackmailed and it all falls under the same umbrella , what Nintendo did was borderline invade of someones privacy by tracking down his location IN BRAZIL of all places

they dont fall under the same umbrella and theyre not the same thing. nice goalpost moving there though, buddy

 

[linuxares]

you don't understand, a lot of people sue for stuff like this even content creators who gets secretly doxxed and tracked and get stalked or blackmailed and it all falls under the same umbrella , what Nintendo did was borderline invade of someones privacy by tracking down his location IN BRAZIL of all places

We don't know how they contacted them. I've yet to see they said they knocked on their door. Plus it was might still not be anything sinister. It might just been a "bribe" to end up Ryujinx.
I hope the rest of the team continue with it.

 

[Lumpofcoal]

I know people say this a lot but I don't think it's the threat of legal that made the dev cave in. IMO, it doesn't make much sense for a few reasons.

The first and perhaps most important reason being that they have never been able to dmca ryujinx even once in its 6 years long existence. 6 years is a very long time if we take into account that it's 6 years of constant scrutiny (including code) and prodding for possible legal weaknesses by a VERY LITIGIOUS team that knows the dmca at the back of their hands. If they can't even legally take down the project on github which is very pliant towards such requests, on what basis are they going to go after the invidividuals working on it? Even for Brazil's court, one would need to raise a claim that has some legal basis or it will be thrown out. I mean, folks keep boasting that no one in Brazil can sued for openly pirating, why would this be any different? And why wait till now? The moment Yuzu tripped, ninty went straight for the jugular, they didn't wait that long.

On a similar basis, if there is something that they can actually pursue the dev with, then they should have no issue shutting the project down using the same reason as well. Logically, it would be far more legally effective to have the project being declared "illegal" by the court like what happened with Yuzu, than have the dev voluntarily back out. Because in the latter, anyone is legally free to continue with ryujinx, even if by another name. That's the important distinction between ryujinx's situation and yuzu's. While ninty obtained a court judgement declaring Yuzu as having violated DMCA, there's nothing to that effect for ryujinx. In fact, ninty is surprisingly quiet about this, not even announcing the existence of such an agreement. In contrast with their past patent lawsuits/agreements, including the one with palworld.

Besides, I'm pretty sure that this isn't the first time that ninty has communicated with the dev. They probably identified him long ago and sent multiple legal letters his way. Probably from the first few days of launch even. Yet the dev was never even once fazed by it.

As such, I'm leaning more towards monetary incentive as the reason. And a very large one at that.