Switch emulator Ryujinx has been taken down after Nintendo contacted its lead developer

Another popular Switch emulator has been taken down following pressure from Nintendo.

As reported on X by OatmealDome, the emulator Ryujinx – an open-source emulator promising “excellent accuracy and performance, a user-friendly interface, and consistent builds” – has been shut down by its lead developer.

A message posted on the emulator’s Discord server by developer riperiperi explained that lead developer gdkchan was approached by Nintendo, and took the emulator down shortly after this, removing all download links and the GitHub repositories hosting the emulator.

“Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organisation and all related assets he’s in control of,” riperiperi wrote.

“While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organisation has been removed, so I think it’s safe to say what the outcome is. Rather than leave you with only panic and speculation, I decided to write this short message to give some closure.”

This is the second major Switch emulator that Nintendo has targeted this year. Back in May, Switch emulator Yuzu was taken down after Nintendo issued a DMCA notice to GitHub, resulting in the removal of more than 8,500 repositories containing versions of the emulator.

The  takedowns followed Nintendo’s decision to sue Tropic Haze, the creator of Yuzu, in February.

Nintendo had claimed that Yuzu was “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale”, and Tropic Haze settled the lawsuit just weeks later, agreeing to pay $2.4 million in damages.

As part of the judgment by the US District Court of Rhode Island, Tropic Haze was issued with a permanent injunction preventing it from offering or marketing Yuzu or any of its source code in the future.