Nintendo has escalated its campaign against Nintendo Switch emulators by issuing Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices that resulted in the removal of over 400 repositories from GitHub. The notices, dated August 21, targeted emulation projects like Suyu, a successor to Yuzu that gained traction after Yuzu's shutdown in March 2024, as well as the Android emulator Skyline and several Yuzu forks. In total, 401 repositories were removed, with Suyu-related projects accounting for 311 of them.
Visiting the affected repositories on GitHub now typically results in a 404 error or a takedown notification. Nintendo's notices assert that these emulators illegally circumvent the company's Technological Protection Measures (TPMs), which are designed to prevent unauthorized access and copying of its games. The notices specifically state that the emulators "unnecessarily use unauthorized copies of these cryptographic keys to decrypt unauthorized copies of Nintendo Switch games, or ROMs, at or immediately before runtime without Nintendo's authorization."
This recent action brings Nintendo's total repository takedowns on GitHub to nearly 9,000, with over 8,500 removed in May 2024 alone. These efforts follow Nintendo's February 2024 lawsuit against Tropic Haze, the developer behind Yuzu. That legal action was notably preceded by a significant increase in piracy of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which was reportedly pirated over one million times before its launch. The ongoing DMCA takedowns demonstrate Nintendo's continued commitment to protecting its intellectual property and combating unauthorized emulation of its console games.