Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx taken offline

A representative for Ryujinx posted an update to Discord alleging that Ryujinx’s lead developer, gdkchan, was “contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project” and to wipe it from the internet. “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,” the representative, who goes by riperiperi online, wrote. Like Yuzu, Ryujinx is a program that lets people play Nintendo Switch games on Windows PC, macOS, and Linux systems. The emulator is compatible with more than 3,400 games, according to the Ryujinx website, which is still online — though the link to download the program now goes to an empty page. Most other pages, like guides, FAQ, and a compatibility list no longer work. Ryujinx’s Patreon, where it has more than 800 members and makes $1,661 a month, is still live at the time of writing.

Polygon has reached out to Nintendo for more information. Polygon’s attempts to contact Ryujinx developers have not been successful.

Several developers posted to the Discord’s announcement and other channels to speak on the shutdown. “I hope I was able to bring some joy to the people I helped over the years or with the (now gone) FAQ I wrote,” one team member, whose Discord user name is metrosexualgarbodor, wrote. “The first time you get an emulator up and running on a PC, then play through an entire game and forget you’re emulating it, is a truly magical experience, and for me it was life-changing.”

The developer who posted the original announcement of the shutdown, riperiperi, also shared several in-progress projects that were expected to be released, including mobile Ryujinx ports — meaning players would have been able to access Nintendo Switch games on their phones. Riperiperi, alongside others, also noted they don’t intend to remain in Switch emulation, though they still believe in its importance. “The future of game preservation does depend on individuals, and maybe one day it’ll be properly recognized,” they wrote.

Though emulators like Ryujinx and Yuzu don’t encourage the use of illegally pirated Nintendo Switch games, they have drawn ire from Nintendo for allowing players to access those games. When The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaked online before its release, download links pointed people to Yuza to play it, Nintendo said in its lawsuit — it alleges the game was downloaded more than 1 million times, and 20% of the download links referenced Yuzu.

Emulators aren’t necessarily only to play pirated games; a lot of people use them to play games they already own, but on a platform they otherwise would not be able to. Emulators are often cited as important to game preservation, too — it can often be the only way to play old games that have been taken offline.