Some fallout from the early leak of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom appears to be taking place. As players are loading the game into emulators and playing them unofficially on their computers, prior to the launch date, Nintendo is taking action to prevent that from happening. Lockpick and Lockpick_RCM are homebrew tools that allow users to dump unique keys from their Nintendo Switch console, which are required for numerous Switch hacking-related programs, including the Ryujinx and Yuzu Switch emulators. While Lockpick has been around for years, Nintendo has reportedly decided to go after it, by issuing a DMCA takedown to the GitHub project page, igniting concern and discussion within the community.

At the time of writing, Lockpick_RCM's repository is still active, it could be due to GitHub providing a grace period following a DMCA notice. Twitter user Simon Aarons was made aware of the takedown, after forking Lockpick, and allegedly receiving an email from GitHub, on behalf of Nintendo of America's legal team, who asserts that Lockpick is "circumvention software that infringes Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. Specifically, the reported repository provides Lockpick to users. The use of Lockpick with a modified Nintendo Switch console allows users to bypass Nintendo’s Technological Measures for video games; specifically, Lockpick bypasses the Console TPMs to permit unauthorized access to, extraction of, and decryption of all the cryptographic keys, including product keys, contained in the Nintendo Switch. The decrypted keys facilitate copyright infringement by permitting users to play pirated versions of Nintendo’s copyright-protected game software on systems without Nintendo’s Console TPMs or systems on which Nintendo’s Console TPMs have been disabled. Trafficking in circumvention software, such as Lockpick, violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the United States (specifically, 17 U.S.C. §1201), and infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo."

Shortly after this, Skyline Emulator, a Switch emulator for Android devices, made the decision to shut down development, via a post on their Discord Server. Since you need the keys dumped from Lockpick in order to run Skyline, the team behind the emulator is concerned that it means Nintendo will target them for also violating their copyright.

It is with great sadness that we bring you this news. Recently, Nintendo has issued a DMCA takedown notice against Lockpick RCM which will likely come into effect on Monday, Lockpick is a core part of legally dumping keys from the Switch. They claim that it circumvents their copy protection (TPMs) and therefore violates their copyright. We find ourselves in a position where we are potentially violating their copyright by continuing to develop our project, Skyline, by dumping keys from our own Switches.

The Skyline team will be making their incomplete source code public, at the very least, and will keep the emulator's GitHub page active. Other homebrew projects are rumored to have been hit with DMCA notices as well. Ryujinx's emulator team stated that they will not be shutting down, following worries after Skyline.

 

[dh3lix-pooch]

Nintendont doing the Nintendont things as usual.

 

[Scarlet]

Shame about Skyline, but I’ll be interested to see what their team is moving onto next.

 

[Chrisssj2]

By that logic atmosphere is just as much piracy as sxos is... oh wait......

 

[SkittleDash]

This will undoubtedly do fuck all. Don't think anyone is worried. Shame about Skyline though. Was looking forward to using that to play my Switch games on my Switch using Switchroot.

 

[AndorfRequissa]

just wait until nintendo goes up against AI. there is no such thing as control anymore with AI taking over and nintendo trying so hard to hold on instead of just focusing on making tons of good content is sad.

the energy nintendo spends swatting flies could be much better spent

 

[Kioku]

So it begins…

 

[Deleted member 559230]

Lockpick RCM produces the valuable keys you need to use emulators, decrypt content. Hopefully the author will file a counter claim and Nintendo will drop the issue.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Nintendo being the absolute pieces of shit they always are, except this time they did go a bit beyond.

Seems like they did indeed fume their asses out with TotK leaking and being playable leak day one on emulators, and this seems to be nothing but a fucking tantrum from them to try to stop this.

In any case, fuck Nintendo. Glad they haven't seen a dime from me in a decade, and that won't change anytime soon as long as they keep doing this shit.

 

[The Catboy]

I really wish the victims of Nintendo would issue a class action because Nintendo needs to be stopped

 

[linuxares]

I really wish the victims of Nintendo would issue a class action because Nintendo needs to be stopped

It can backfire causing even more issues for emulators if Nintendo would win that

 

[raxadian]

Well, is crazy this has not happened earlier. By the way what other emulators also need firmware or something similar? I know Nintendo DS emulators and Dreamcast emulators that need firmware.

Does Dolphin need a Wii and or Gamecube firmware?

 

[The Catboy]

It can backfire causing even more issues for emulators if Nintendo would win that

Honestly, Nintendo would still find some means of winning because the DMCA is basically designed to be abused. Kind of like Nintendo changing their TOS to win the Drift lawsuit. So it’s really just hopeful thinking on my end but until the laws are changed, I know it won’t amount to shit

 

[linuxares]

Honestly, Nintendo would still find some means of winning because the DMCA is basically designed to be abused. Kind of like Nintendo changing their TOS to win the Drift lawsuit. So it’s really just hopeful thinking on my end but until the laws are changed, I know it won’t amount to shit

Of course it is. It's the companies that "wrote" the law so.

 

[zoogie]

Coming soon to a warez scene near you:

Yuzu_Emulator_v1423_ENG_MULTI5_NSW-VENOM
Ryujinx_Emulator_v1.1.764_ENG_NSW-LiGHTFORCE

Complete with Chinese/Russian dev teams only

 

[AngryCinnabon]

Well fuck, Nintendo ruining the fun as usual. Skyline is a real shame because now a certain emulator I won't name that illegally steals code from yuzu will be relevant again.

 

[Xzi]

Way too late to try to put this genie back in the bottle, Nintendo. As litigious as they are I'm very surprised they didn't sue Nvidia for including the exploit, but clearly they only like to go after easy targets who can't afford legal expenses.

 

[scoobydude51]

Well fuck, Nintendo ruining the fun as usual. Skyline is a real shame because now a certain emulator I won't name that illegally steals code from yuzu will be relevant again.

i wouldn't be surprised if those scummy devs reported Skyline to Nintendo.

 

[SylverReZ]

I hope these devs and victims of Nintendo's DMCA takedowns sue them in court, this scummy company deserves to go bankrupt.

 

[Purple_Heart]

what tf do they think who they are? Ok protecting their shit is understandable.....but that rn is just exagerated. i dont think that will do shit, because i am sure someone will continue that what lockpick did.