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

 

[anhminh]

I'm with Nintendo on this crack down on emulator. Instead of quietly play your illegal rom on 4K, you guy have to go online and shit on Nintendo console constantly while bragging about your early leaked rom. At this point, it had become business sabotage and Nintendo are in the right to come after them.

 

[SeventhSon7]

I'm with Nintendo on this crack down on emulator. Instead of quietly play your illegal rom on 4K, you guy have to go online and shit on Nintendo console constantly while bragging about your early leaked rom. At this point, it had become business sabotage and Nintendo are in the right to come after them.

 

[Lostbhoy]

Discussions evolve

Evolution is coherent, this thread is no longer!

 

[spinal_cord]

Nintendo as a company is a huge a-hole. I'm personally opposed to pirating Switch games, but the big N shutting down emulators even if they weren't supporting or encouraging piracy is ridiculous.

Emulators always encourage piracy. Unless that is, the emulator requires a DRM enabled hardware cart reader that the emulator will only work with and has no way to read rom files from your computer. Not only that, modern systems require the use of copyrighted system software just to work in the first place.

Name an emulator that will only work with original media and has no way to use software that has been transfered to a computers hdd.

 

[EnigmaExodus]

Nintendo could have paid him and made him sign a contract so he can't speak about it. It will come out eventually.

Some others are not as optimistic that was the outcome.

https://x.com/carygolomb/status/1841859696686219380

Maybe if he was lucky he will get a job working on the next iteration of VC releases.

 

[spinal_cord]

Why is everyone so invested in the idea that he was paid off? The absolute most logical thing to have happened was Nintendo just plain stated "stop working on this hobby of yours or we will file a legal case, you can not afford to fight it, we have the most expensive lawyers in the world".

If I was working on some software that was encouraging people to break the law (yes ALL emulators encourage piracy, thats how they work) and the owner of the copyrights threatened me with legal action, I sure as hell would stop. So would every single one of you.

 

[Bladexdsl]

I'm with Nintendo on this crack down on emulator. Instead of quietly play your illegal rom on 4K, you guy have to go online and shit on Nintendo console constantly while bragging about your early leaked rom. At this point, it had become business sabotage and Nintendo are in the right to come after them.

run along sheep your master is calling you

 

[EnigmaExodus]

Why is everyone so invested in the idea that he was paid off? The absolute most logical thing to have happened was Nintendo just plain stated "stop working on this hobby of yours or we will file a legal case, you can not afford to fight it, we have the most expensive lawyers in the world".

There have been developers of other emulators who have managed to secure jobs at Nintendo in the past. But I was a skeptic too.

Maybe once the dust settles he could try getting a job doing embedded development or similar in the industry.

 

[Jayinem]

Why is everyone so invested in the idea that he was paid off? The absolute most logical thing to have happened was Nintendo just plain stated "stop working on this hobby of yours or we will file a legal case, you can not afford to fight it, we have the most expensive lawyers in the world".

If I was working on some software that was encouraging people to break the law (yes ALL emulators encourage piracy, thats how they work) and the owner of the copyrights threatened me with legal action, I sure as hell would stop. So would every single one of you.

He had a patreon and was making money, so then it becomes more than just a hobby.

Because of that it's unlikely NIntendo paid a dime.

 

[subcon959]

ALL emulators encourage piracy, thats how they work

The first part is wrong, the second part is absurdly wrong.

 

[NinStar]

yes ALL emulators encourage piracy, thats how they work

We should kill all of them then, including the hundred of games that are on the market right now that are essentially glorified emulators.

 

[mituzora]

Emulators always encourage piracy. Unless that is, the emulator requires a DRM enabled hardware cart reader that the emulator will only work with and has no way to read rom files from your computer. Not only that, modern systems require the use of copyrighted system software just to work in the first place.

Name an emulator that will only work with original media and has no way to use software that has been transfered to a computers hdd.

You are absolutely allowed to rip your own media and play it, and while yes, there are plenty of people who sail the seven seas to get their cart dumps, there are plenty of more examples of people who rip their own media. Yes, I know about the "circumventing DRM" verbage of the DMCA, but frankly, that's old material that severely needs to be updated to protect consumers from doing what they want with their media, granted they don't distribute it. This protection is the grey area that keeps emulation alive.

 

[spinal_cord]

The first part is wrong, the second part is absurdly wrong.

Ok then, show me ANY emulator that ONLY works with original media and will not work at all with downloads.
Just because an emulator author doesn't say specifically "go and download some roms" doesn't mean they discourage piracy. Emulators encourage piracy just by existing.

 

[BlusterBong]

You are absolutely allowed to rip your own media and play it, and while yes, there are plenty of people who sail the seven seas to get their cart dumps, there are plenty of more examples of people who rip their own media.

execpt for every five people who "rip thier own media", there's 50 who's just going to take the easy way out and do the sailing

 

[linuxares]

Ok then, show me ANY emulator that ONLY works with original media and will not work at all with downloads.
Just because an emulator author doesn't say specifically "go and download some roms" doesn't mean they discourage piracy. Emulators encourage piracy just by existing.

Retro 5, but there is ways to make pirated roms to work on it's, but not officially from Hyperkin

 

[mituzora]

execpt for every five people who "rip thier own media", there's 50 who's just going to take the easy way out and do the sailing

Yeah, sadly, this fact is not lost on me. I was just pointing out to the person I replied to that their take was outlandish and out-of-left-field for basically saying that it's illegal unless the manufacturers make something that contains DRM to talk to said carts, when the DMCA, as annoying as it is, actually protects the consumer's right to dump their own media.

Pirates absolutely make game dumping look bad though.

 

[doorbell8423]

.

 

[mituzora]

Retro 5, but there is ways to make pirated roms to work on it's, but not officially from Hyperkin

also any FPGA-based hardware from Analogue; their stock firmware doesn't allow the use of ROMs. (I know it's not software emulation, but still)

Post automatically merged: Oct 7, 2024

They controll on what system you play their games, locking you on their systems.

You have no choice but to play games at crappies possible resolution and awful frame rate on outdated and low-spec console that they dont even let you tweak.
In fact, not that you only have no choice but they actively fight so you cant even privately
emulate them by removine emulators, even though you bought their games.

They have no competitors in their own world and if they do they make sure to crush them, for example palworld. While sega and others praise the comunity for using their ip in a passionate manner making mods etc, nintendo "protects" in other word holds monopoly but not with other consoles like sony or micorsoft but with fans and their fan projects, fixing their own shortcomings.

I might be wrong but i see that as a somenoe who is desperatly fighting windmills and beats people that are their biggest fans by killing funs, but everione excuses Nintendo and
justify them.

Valve is probably the only company that is relevand and pro consumer and in touch with gamers and comunity right now while alowing all that nintendo forbids and still going strong.

I wouldn't call Nintendo a monopoly, even though they're assholes for not allowing their IPs on anything aside from their consoles. Definitely anti-consumer though (as you brought up Valve; that's how a gaming company should treat their consumers). Other video game manufacturers and developers exist, and they technically do allow 3rd parties to develop for their console.

They're more like Apple. You gotta buy Apple if you want Apple software, and they basically only work with Apple products. but there are other personal computer manufacturers out there, so technically Apple isn't the only choice.

Monopolistic? that's a stretch. Anti-consumer? Absolutely!

 

[subcon959]

Ok then, show me ANY emulator that ONLY works with original media and will not work at all with downloads.
Just because an emulator author doesn't say specifically "go and download some roms" doesn't mean they discourage piracy. Emulators encourage piracy just by existing.

I don't think I agree with your logic at all. Just like the existence of knives doesn't encourage stabbing.

Maybe if you'd said the existence of warez sites encourages piracy, then I could agree.

 

[spinal_cord]

Personally, I would like a world in which I could buy an image file of a game to be played on any emulator on any system; for example, a pack of SNES games that I could play on a Switch or PC, without having to break protections myself or commit copyright offences by finding the dumps on a website.

I don't disagree that the attitude Nintendo has towards developers of emulators causes a lot of dislike. But the law backs up Nintendo, not the emulator devs. If Sega, Atari, or whoever did the same thing and demanded specific developers to stop enabling piracy, they would also have the higher ground legally.

In the USA, the DMCA does not allow circumventing copy protections even when you do it to create your own personal backups. Making your own backups is just as illegal as downloading them.

Software emulation of real hardware for the purposes of playing the software dumps of physical games is almost certainly illegal, simply because you cannot legally dump your own games, nor can you legally download them. So using an emulator, even if you dumped your own game, constitutes copyright infringement. The existence of the emulator itself encourages this infringement because it is the only way to use the emulator.

Disagreeing with a fact does not prevent it from being a fact.