Another Nintendo Switch Emulator Has Closed Down

In a recent development, the Switch emulator Ryujinx has announced its closure. The news came from a developer who posted on the project’s Discord channel.

This announcement, shared on X (previously Twitter) by Wario64, revealed that the lead developer, known as “gdkchan,” received a communication from Nintendo instructing him to cease all work on the emulator, disband the organization, and eliminate all related assets under his management. Although Nintendo proposed some sort of agreement, the details remain undisclosed.

It appears that gdkchan did not inform fellow developer “riperiperi,” who made the statement public, about his decision. Consequently, all download links have been removed from the official website. As of now, the Github repository has been archived and marked as read-only.

“I appreciate everyone who followed us during this project,” riperiperi stated. “I learned a lot about the games I love, enjoyed them in new ways, and I hope you have similar valuable experiences.” The full statement can be found below.

Seems that Ryujinx (the Switch emulator) is officially done pic.twitter.com/gE1qH30Axs

— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 1, 2024

Reports about issues with Ryujinx, a C# based open-source emulator compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, surfaced on Tuesday morning. Users on Reddit noticed that the application was non-functional, the Github page returned errors, and all download links were removed. Speculation arose about possible hacks to the Github or other issues, while messages in Discord indicated that it was likely not due to any legal threats from Nintendo.

Ryujinx is not the first Switch emulator to shut down following contact from Nintendo. In March, Yuzu reached a settlement with the company, agreeing to pay $2.4 million and subsequently halt operations. Nintendo had originally filed a lawsuit against Yuzu’s developers for copyright infringement and facilitating piracy of the game Tears of the Kingdom. Additionally, Nintendo has recently pursued legal action against the developer of Palworld, citing patent infringements without disclosing specifics regarding the patents involved.