A YouTube channel has been hit by Nintendo after showing its games running on emulators, as the company continues to crack down on piracy.
Nintendo has always been ruthless when it comes to tackling what it deems to be piracy, as shown in a lawsuit earlier this year against Switch emulator Yuzu.
While it’s easy to see why Nintendo would want to target those creating emulation software, especially if it’s costing the company sales, it’s now going after YouTubers who are promoting emulators and the hardware they run on.
YouTube channel Retro Game Corps, which has over 552,000 subscribers and primarily covers new portable devices which can emulate classic games, has received two copyright strikes in recent weeks for showing Nintendo titles operating on third party handhelds.
In a statement, the channel’s owner Russ said: ‘Hi friends, well it does appear that my worst fears are true, and that I am being specifically targeted by Nintendo. My Wii U video was taken down and I received another copyright strike, even though this showcase video was no different than all of the tech demos and reviews I have made on this channel previously.’
Russ says he is considering filing a counter claim under fair use, claiming the video was ‘for educational use, transformative in nature, and had no affect on the market’, as the console in the video is no longer for sale, and it showed a Wii U game which Nintendo no longer profits from following the eShop’s closure.
‘However, I am reluctant to open that can of worms with a multi-billion dollar corporation, as their next step would be to file legal action,’ he added.
As a result of the strikes, Retro Game Corps will no longer show any Nintendo games on-screen in its videos. ‘I am also going through the videos I am working on and blurring out any Nintendo game content as a precaution, even innocuous content like NES games,’ Russ said.
Nintendo’s first copyright strike against the channel related to a video which showcased a device that allowed you to put Switch software on your PC. While it’s understandable why this would grab the attention of Nintendo’s lawyers, it feels harsh to strike down footage related to Nintendo consoles no longer in production, like the Wii U.
Nintendo is well within its rights to take down the footage though, and has been very clear in the past about its stance on emulation, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that it would go after any outlet which tries to promote these kind of devices.
The company has been particularly ruthless with emulators in recent years. Following the takedown of Yuzu in March, another Switch emulator named Ryujinx has now seemingly ceased development, after its creator was contacted by Nintendo.
In a post on the emulator’s Discord from October 1, which was subsequently shared by the Ryujinx Twitter account, it explains that creator gdkchan was ‘contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organisation and all related assets he’s in control of’.
The post added: ‘While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organisation has been removed, so I think it’s safe to say what the outcome is. Rather than leave you with only panic and speculation, I decided to write this short message to give some closure.’
As such, the Ryujinx download page is no longer accessible, which is perhaps a wise move considering Nintendo’s track record with brutal lawsuits. In 2022, Gary Bowser was sentenced to 40 months in prison and fined $4.5 million for selling Switch hacking devices, while the company ordered an American couple in 2018 to pay $12.2 million over pirated ROMs.
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