The developer of popular Nintendo DS emulator Drastic just made its app completely free on Android (previously $4.99), and it intends to pull it down for good. Exophase wrote on its official Discord that “I want to make it clear that I don’t have any kind of financial incentive” and that Nintendo’s move simply “made the whole process more urgent”:
Meanwhile, a popular Discord server for the Steam Deck has at least temporarily shut down its entire emulation channel, writing, “We are not equipped to deal with potential legal repercussions of hosting discussions on Yuzu or emulation at this time” and apologizing for “the need to censor.”
When I went looking for the Discord server for Ryujinx, another Nintendo Switch emulator, I found it was no longer accepting invites. The Verge and Ars Technica have both reached out to Ryujinx to comment on the Yuzu lawsuit, but we haven’t heard back yet.
Another second-order effect: without Yuzu and Citra, all-in-one emulation providers like the popular EmuDeck have to look elsewhere for the underlying emulators. EmuDeck is falling back to Ryujinx for Nintendo Switch emulation and is testing Panda3DS instead of Citra:
If you see or hear any other repercussions from Nintendo’s lawsuit and Yuzu’s collapse, please reach out to me at sean@theverge.com. We’d like to explain if and how the scene might be changing.
