Nintendo Switch Emulator Ryujinx Seemingly Ceases Development Following Pressure From Nintendo

It looks like popular Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx is no more.

One of its developers, riperiperi, announced the news on its Discord server today, saying that lead developer gdkchan "was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of."

"While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is," riperiperi continues. The message, which you can read below, was also posted on Ryujinx's X/Twitter account.

pic.twitter.com/2Ggt9SWoDI

It also came just hours after some users raised concerns, noticing that Ryujinx's Github page currently leads to a 404 message. Others pointed out Ryujinx's download page also wasn't loading, sparking more concern for the emulation project. Amid the speculation, one of the Discord's mods assured fans that an announcement was coming, asking them to not spread misinformation in the meantime.

As it says on its website, Ryujinx is an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator written in C# for Windows, Linux and macOS. It began as a single-developer project in 2017, collecting a small team of developers along the way.

Today's news is only the latest in Nintendo's ongoing crackdown on emulators following its lawsuit against Tropic Haze, creators of the popular Switch emulator Yuzu. Tropic Haze paid $2.4 million in damages in the settlement, and Yuzu was shut down entirely. Nintendo claimed that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was pirated 1 million times before its release in the lawsuit, and issued a takedown notice for more than 8,500 copies of code of Yuzu in May.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.