Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu will utterly fold and pay $2.4M to settle its lawsuit
www.theverge.com
Just about a week after getting sued.

This also includes ceasing development and destroying their copies of the code.

The GitHub repo page for Yuzu now returns a 404, as well. In addition, the repo for the Citra 3DS emulator was also taken down.

As of at least 23:30 UTC, Yuzu’s website and Citra’s website have been replaced with a statement about their discontinuation.

Other sources found by @[email protected]:

There is also an active Reddit thread about this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1b6gtb5/

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
    1913·
    9 months ago

    I’m sorry but how is using the actual keys from a legally purchased system circumventing anything? It’s like saying using the actual key to your own front door counts as breaking and entering.

    • pivot_root@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      862·
      9 months ago

      Nintendo’s angle is more along the lines of:

      • We gave our friend Switchy the keys to a lockbox.
      • You tricked Switchy into giving you our keys.
      • We didn’t authorize you to use those keys.
      • Using our keys without our permission is circumventing our DRM.
      • Yuzu is a tool that enables you to use our keys.
      • It’s illegal to distribute tools to circumvent DRM.

      It’s a massive reach, but it’s a plausible argument—or even a good one if the judge is a technologically illiterate luddite. Beyond that, Nintendo is the kind of litigant that will drag out a lawsuit until the other party is forced to settle.

      • viking@infosec.pubEnglish
        71·
        9 months ago

        A court in Germany has recently decided that reading the code of a software you legally purchased and finding plain text passwords there is illegal hacking.

        The person was hired to do a security audit (by a third party) and disclosed the finding to the software developer, not even to his own employer.

        The developer decided to sue him instead of fixing the problem.

        At this point I have lost all trust in the technological capacities of judges out there.

        • pivot_root@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          13·
          9 months ago

          I can’t quite remember the name, but there is actually at least one U.S. judge that takes the time and effort to learn about the technology in depth before making a ruling.

        • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.worldEnglish
          62·
          9 months ago

          Not sure it will ever get better. Maybe a single person being allowed to decide a case that requires a technical understanding should be consulted by experts in it. I guess a better lawyer probably should have made that happen (shouldn’t have to). But, as the old geezers die off and the younger “tech savvy” people take over, they will no longer be young or tech savvy, technologywill keep progressing and pass us up too. And you don’t want an actual young person as a judge. So… the system is just broken.

      • ozymandias117@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        9 months ago

        If I’m not authorized to use those keys, how do I use Switchy?

        I guess all Nintendo games are illegal to play by that argument, even with their console

    • TORFdot0@lemmy.worldEnglish
      271·
      9 months ago

      It shouldn’t be illegal, but it is because the law about it was written by the industry 25 years ago because our lawmakers think the internet and indoor plumbing work the same way.

    • stealth_cookies@lemmy.caEnglish
      7·
      9 months ago

      It isn’t, but when you are a small project the law is inconsequential if a massive corporation goes after you and you don’t have the money for the legal battle.

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
        191·
        9 months ago

        Yes, but the emulator doesn’t circumvent any copy protection. It utilizes the decryption key from your own hardware (assuming you dumped it yourself) to run ROMs which have already had the DRM circumvented by whatever was used to dump them in the first place (which the emulator doesn’t do).

        This is generally the same reason why emulators such as Bleem (which works the same way as Yuzu with the decryption keys but for PS1) have been ruled legal in past court cases.

        A good analogy would be that you’re using their keys, on their locks, but put in a different door.

    • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      I’m pretty sure the keys aren’t a part of the actual game/download, it’s a part of your Switch. So if you have an emulator with one of those keys built in, it’s piracy.

      I think what they should have done is prompt the user to put it in themselves and then we could just find keys on the internet and avoid this whole situation. But I’m no expert

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        I think what they should have done is prompt the user to put it in themselves and then we could just find keys on the internet and avoid this whole situation. But I’m no expert

        That’s exactly how it is… Yuzu does not distribute those files. They give you a guide on how to dump it yourself from your own Switch.

    • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.onlineEnglish
      622·
      9 months ago

      Because you’re using the system outside of its intended purpose to break the law. That’s basically the definition of hacking.

      I’m not sure why it being illegal to sell a tool to do that is a hard concept to grasp for so many people.

      I’m not against emulation or pirating, but no shit this was going to happen eventually.

      • echo64@lemmy.worldEnglish
        261·
        9 months ago

        Okay, so no, it’s not hacking. It doesn’t fall under hacking laws. It’s not illegal to sell hacking tools. Basically, everything you said is wrong.

        In this case, it’s all about copyright and the DMCA, which made it illegal to break the copyright protection systems companies put in place or to make or distribute tools to break copyright protection systems.

        So, nothing to do will selling things or hacking. Everything to do with copyright and draconian dot come era laws.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.onlineEnglish
          224·
          9 months ago

          Circumventing copyright protections by using encryption keys in an unauthorized manner is hacking.

          This case might not be explicitly about hacking, but profiting off tools that use IP to circumvent protections is illegal.

      • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
        18·
        4 months ago

        The electronic key I purchased and collected from my own hardware is “hacking” because Nintendo’s doesn’t intend it? Maybe the legality of selling a tool to get the key is a hard concept to grasp because the premise is objectionable. If a Switch makes a good doorstop then it will be doing it’s “intended purpose” if that’s what I intend for my property.

        I’m against companies having unjust control over our own computing.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.onlineEnglish
          215·
          9 months ago

          You might own the hardware, but you don’t own the rights to the OS that runs on it. The encryption key is part of that software.

          It’s not a hard concept to grasp. If I was openly selling a tool to break the activation lock on Windows, I could expect the same result.

          • mashbooq@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            9 months ago

            That’s a ridiculous idea. If I buy a computer with an OS that has an encryption key to protect the hard drive, and later I need that key to remove my data to another system, I have an entirely reasonable expectation that I’m allowed to do so, regardless of how much the computer manufacturer doesn’t want me to.