Gab Hernandez 
Team Yuzu, the developers behind the eponymous Switch emulator, settles a lawsuit with Nintendo.
Nintendo sued Team Yuzu in February, claiming that the group facilitated mass piracy. Nintendo cited the leak of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a week before its actual launch. Nintendo’s history of legal action against emulators and ROMs typically ends in the iconic game company’s favor.
The DMCA strike on the Dolphin Wii emulator on Steam led to its removal from the platform. Nintendo also sued notable ROM site ROM Universe for $2.1 million in damages. Now, Nintendo adds another notch to its victories against emulators.
How much did Team Yuzu pay Nintendo after the lawsuit?
Team Yuzu paid $2.4 million as monetary relief to Nintendo.
Team Yuzu operated a Patreon page, which many speculate was the catalyst for Nintendo taking aggressive legal action against the developers. In reality, the primary reason for the lawsuit against Yuzu is that it allowed users to bypass Nintendo’s DRM and copyright protections entirely.
Nintendo’s stance on copyright always leaned on the harsh side. The company has leveraged its litigiousness in many situations, with the most frequent and controversial example being its actively hostile stance against Super Smash Bros esports.
A $2.4 million settlement isn’t even the worst fate that could’ve been dealt to Team Yuzu. Gary Bowser, who was part of a group that created and sold devices that could circumvent Nintendo’s DRM and copyright protections, has to pay $14.5 million in damages to Nintendo.
Will Yuzu be taken down?
Development of the Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator and 3DS emulator Citra will end after a settlement in Nintendo’s lawsuit.
Team Yuzu announced the cancellation of Yuzu and Citra on social media after the lawsuit settlement. The group expressed its disappointment towards users who used their software to play illegal copies of games before release and stated that it stands against piracy.
All code for Yuzu will be taken down, and Team Yuzu will discontinue Patreon and Discord, and shut down its website. Although copies of Yuzu and Citra are undoubtedly archived all over the internet, it is unknown if Nintendo will chase those down. Other Switch emulators, like Ryujinx, remain untouched by Nintendo. For how long, only Nintendo can say.
