Switch emulator Ryujinx goes offline after creator gets an offer from Nintendo they can't refuse

In February, Nintendo sued the makers of the Switch emulator Yuzu, saying it «unlawfully circumvents the technological measures» that help deter piracy of Switch games. Just a couple weeks later, Yuzu settled, agreeing to halt development and pay $2.4 million to the company, a decisive win for Nintendo that led us to wonder whether it would pursue similar action against other emulators, particularly the Yuzu competitor Ryujinx. Now we have our answer.

«Yesterday, [Ryujinx creator] 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,» developer and moderator rip in peri peri posted on the Ryujinx Discord. «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.»

It certainly seems to be. The download page at ryujinx.org is now blank, and the direct link to the emulator at Github leads to a 404 error. Gdkchan has not yet commented on the matter, but the Discord message was also shared on the Ryujinx feed on X.

pic.twitter.com/2Ggt9SWoDIOctober 1, 2024

Rip in peri peri said Ryujinx developers had a lot going on behind the scenes that will now never see the light of day, including an iOS port «that ran really well,» an Android version that wasn't quite ready for prime time, and other work-in-progress improvements to performance, compatibility, and «the overall user experience.»

«This would be the true evolution of the emulator going forward, but changes were stuck in limbo and never got released,» they wrote.

«I feel that this desire for perfection over getting there as fast as possible set us apart as an emulator, but unfortunately it means you didn't get to see some of our best work in action. Just keep it in your heart as a vision of what is possible.»

While they won't be remaining on the Switch scene after this, rip in peri peri said they still believe in the value of