It is no secret that Nintendo has been very strict on fan content. It is also no secret that Nintendo is not a fan of any kind of piracy or emulation whatsoever. The company has a record going back for many years of trying to put a stop to both. So, it isn’t surprising that a new example of this has been announced today.
Gaming journalist Stephen Totilo has confirmed on Twitter that Nintendo is suing the creators of Yuzu, a Switch emulator. Nintendo is arguing that the emulator “illegally circumvents Nintendo’s software encryption and facilitates piracy”. They’re wanting damages for violations and the emulator to be shutdown.
Nintendo also mentions The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, saying that the emulator “spoiled the game” and harmed “law-abiding Nintendo customers”, making them “avoid social media to prevent seeing spoilers and preserve their surprise and delight for the actual game release”, citing a few fan comments in the process.
Nintendo also cited the game as an example of their argument that the emulator facilitates piracy, saying that 1,000,000 copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were downloaded prior to its release and that “Yuzu’s Patreon support doubled during that time”. You can see Totilo’s tweet about the matter down below.