Killjoy Nintendo Puts A Bullet In Another Popular Switch Emulator

Nintendo has dealt yet another blow to the Switch emulation scene, which has long been a thorn in the company’s side. After taking down Yuzu through the courts earlier this year, it seems as if the only other viable emulator, Ryujinx, is no longer available online. This time, however, Nintendo didn’t even need to sue the creators to make the project disappear.

According to one of the developers who posted a message in the project’s discord that was later shared on the project’s X social media account, the main developer was contacted directly by Nintendo. He was “offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of. While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is.”

It's understandable that Nintendo would make this kind of move. Its games would often be leaked and run using an emulator. However, these emulators were also often the best way to play Nintendo’s games due to the hardware limitations of the Switch. Players who took this path often got much better performance and a better experience than those who used the company’s handheld.

Of course, just like Yuzu, Ryujinx was an open-source project whose code lived on Github. There are undoubtedly several forks of this project floating around as backups for just this kind of scenario. All that’s needed is a group of willing developers that can pick it up and continue development. Although meaningful progress will just get delayed compared to what might have been possible if Ryujinx could carry on.

Hopefully the Nintendo Switch 2, which is on the horizon, can pick up the slack and deliver the performance that has only been possible with emulators like Ryujinx.