Nintendo hits GitHub hard with over 8,000 emulator-related DMCA deletions

Nintendo has submitted a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice. Over 8,000 GitHub repositories hosting code for yuzu switch emulatorzelda maker I mentioned earlier that it’s enabled. “Copyright infringement on a huge scale” Full removal will take place in two months Yuzu’s creators quickly reconciled A $2.4 million lawsuit between Nintendo and its notoriously trigger-happy legal team.

GamesIndustry.biz beginning report It’s listed in a DMCA notice and affects 8,535 GitHub repositories. A compiled group representing Nintendo claims that the Yuzu source code contained in the repository “illegally circumvents Nintendo’s technical safeguards and engages in illegal copying of Switch games.”

GitHub says in the notice that developers will be given time to change their content before it is disabled. Maintaining a developer-friendly approach and branding, Microsoft-owned platform We also provided legal resources and guidance on filing DMCA counter-notices.

Nintendo’s legal blowback, perhaps not coincidentally, comes amid a resurgence in gaming emulators.Last month, Apple relaxed restrictions in the App Store’s Retro Game Player (perhaps Regulatory threats), Delta emulator establishes itself as the de facto choice And it reached the top spot in the App Store. Nintendo may have calculated that seeing the light of day on emulators would threaten its revenue, and started by killing the one that most directly threatened its revenue stream.

Sadly, Nintendo’s largely unimpeachable legal attack on emulators important uses To them, it’s not copyright infringement. Game historians consider this software to be the linchpin of the game. save game. Without emulators, Nintendo and other copyright holders could make pieces of history obsolete for future generations, as compatible hardware would eventually become difficult to obtain.