Nintendo RESPONDS To DMCA Takedown On Dolphin Emulator For Steam!

Nintendo recently issued a DMCA takedown on the popular Gamecube and Wii emulator Dolphin when it appeared on the Steam storefront, and now we have a lot more info on the subject!

[wubbers]

It wasn't a DMCA takedown though. Valve asked Nintendo if they would mind Dolphin being on Steam, and Nintendo said yes. The message was then relayed to Dolphin. At any rate, you can still get Dolphin.

[SuiteLifeofDioBrando]

I think emulation will stay underground from big stores like steam, but it will never go away.

[chickmagnetwampaone]

You may not be a Nintendo YouTuber, but you are my favorite source for gaming news lately.

[markcampbell]

I fully support RGT’s journey into the emulation world

[M.G.F]

Ironically, this DMCA thing raised my interest in the emulator and now I have it in my laptop haha

[Armando_Aranda]

Our favorite Nintendo YouTube person is back.

[matteste]

Seriously, if these kinds of copyright maximalists had their way we wouldn't even have libraries as they see them as piracy dens. The only reason we can even loan books and the like these days is cause libraries came first. It is transparent that the real reason for this is to shut down innovation and competition to try and make themselves a monopoly.

[joeg]

Yes the secondary market is ridiculous and I can see a need to emulate games not easily purchasable. Those that are emulating Switch games like Tears of the Kingdom, get out of here

[Jokerwolf]

I think what's going to happen is that they're going to remove the keys from future versions and you're going to just see all the ROM sites slowly update their Wii and GameCube ROMs to be decrypted and then the problem goes away.

[SharifSourour]

I love when our fave Nintendo YouTuber talks about emulation!

[Joey]

Oh, cool, some information about Nintendo from the best Nintendo Youtuber on the platform. Thank you for all you do RGT 85.

[purelogarithm]

So to correct things here a bit. First, there isn't a formal DMCA claim that happened. What happened is that Valve got a C&D which was sent to Dolphin to take down the listing (which did happen). The C&D does cite the DMCA as the basis of their reasoning, but they never actually filed a formal DMCA takedown - it hasn't gotten to that point yet and Dolphin has not had any formal legal action taken against it other than a formal "Stop this" from Nintendo. The Dolphin project still exists and as of right now, it's still available everywhere. Nintendo could take this to court, but I suspect their motives are to scare Dolphin straight so they can remove the keys. I do not see anyone, Dolphin or Valve, defying this at all.

As far as Nintendo's statement goes, it's best to look at it as a boilerplate statement regarding non-Nintendo activity with emulators and nothing more. They don't like external emulators, that's not a major revelation. That's the same stance that Sony and MS take - they only like emulation that they control.

I will also say that Dolphin should just remove the keys. I get that It's convenient for them to include them, but other modern emulators don't include them for a reason and Dolphin should take heed. Eeither have the end users get the keys themselves through whatever means they may, or only support decrypted games that the user has to mess with through whatever means they may and have Dolphin stay as far away from that as possible. Even if the law is dubious on this and even if people think that Dolphin should stand firm, I would argue that they should not do that and keep themselves as far away from legal challenges. While a lot of people would love to think or believe that they can win against Nintendo for whatever ideological reasons about emulation in general or whatever beef they have with Nintendo specifically (I am not interested in engaging with those arguments), the courts are very fickle and can be very favorable to companies. Taking this head on (especially Nintendo of all things) can lead to significant setbacks. This isn't like Bleem or Connectix vs Sony here Gaming has changed and DMCA is a real thing in law and I can see a scenario where Dolphin can easily lose here and it's best that they stay well away from conflict.

[SOUNDWAVEMAN]

I think laws should be introduced when a game (intellectual property) has made it’s money within a 15-20 year window then companies should be allowed to emulate these games because Nintendo sure ain’t releasing these games in an easy playable format. Example I can’t play Luigi’s Mansion 1 & 2 on Switch. And if Nintendo did put them on Switch I’d be expected to buy games I already own yet again. There definitely needs to be work done law wise within this sphere of gaming.

[FlukasMcDoogle]

EDIT: Another great emulation vid... from my favorite NONtendo YouTuber. ALSO, I don't think Nintendo is done. I think they want to make it illegal to emulate. Period. And I think their streak of wins and wins is going to make them overconfident, and it will EVENTUALLY massively backfire. I think they want to change the precedent that 20+ year old Sony case set that made emulation legal. (Emulation, NOT Pirating ROMs).

I think Nintendo is legally correct, when it comes to Dolphin having the decryption ability in the emulator's code. Ethically, they are incorrect. Emulation alone and playing ROMs alone, is not wrong. Legally, pirating is wrong. Ethically, IN THIS CASE, it's A-OK.

[notbatman]

I'm sorry but you are such a hypocrite. You're saying that the emulation of those old games is ok as Nintendo either way won't profit from them (I agree with this point) but at the same time you are promoting Switch emulation...

[SharifSourour]

MVG did a good video on this earlier pointing out how in this case the emulator is breaching copyright due to including the keys in the code which is usually separated in proper emulators. That actually gives Nintendo’s takedown legitimacy and makes unlikely other emulators can be legally targeted with any success.

[rodddossantos]

RGT "sees all sides of the coin" yo! 😆
Friggin LOVE this guy!!
Happy Memorial Day weekend brother!

[itzdmr]

The entitlement problem in the USA is crazy, emulation is cool, but let's not pretend that we're all entitled to play these games either.

[FreedomArtAI]

9:38 To be fair, Nintendo just recently released a remaster of Metroid Prime on Switch which was originally on the Gamecube. Which could open the door for other Gamecube releases, most notably Metroid Prime 2. They also have released both Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy in HD, Gamecube and Wii original games respectively.

[GiSWiG]

Emulators are leagal and Nintendo cannot stop that. What they can do is take down emulators that use encryption keys or BIOSes.