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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/03/heres-how-the-makers-of-the-suyu-switch-emulator-plan-to-avoid-getting-sued/ [arstechnica.com]

Last week, the developers behind the popular Switch emulator Yuzu took down their GitLab and web presence [arstechnica.com] in the face of a major lawsuit from Nintendo [arstechnica.com]. Now, a new project built from the Yuzu source code, cheekily named Suyu [suyu.dev], has arisen as "the continuation of the world's most popular, open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu."

Despite the name—which the project's GitLab page [gitlab.com] notes is "pronounced 'sue-you' (wink, wink)"—the developers behind Suyu are going out of their way to try to avoid a lawsuit like the one that took down Yuzu.
[...]
After consulting with an unnamed "someone with legal experience" (Sharpie would only say "they claimed three years of law school"), the Suyu development team has decided to avoid "any monetization," Sharpie said. The project's GitLab page clearly states that "we do not intend to make money or profit from this project," an important declaration after Nintendo cited Yuzu's profitability a few times in its recent lawsuit. Other emulator makers [arstechnica.com] also told Ars that Yuzu's Patreon opened the project up to a set of pesky consumer demands and expectations.

The Suyu devs have also been warned against "providing step-by-step guides" like the ones that Yuzu offered for how to play copyrighted games on their emulator. Those guides were a major focus of Nintendo's lawsuit, as were some examples of developer conversations in the Yuzu Discord that seemed to acknowledge and condone piracy.
[...]
The Suyu GitLab page is upfront that the developers "do not support or condone piracy in any form," a message that didn't appear on Yuzu's GitLab page [archive.org] or website [archive.org].

The No. 1 rule listed on the Suyu Discord is that "piracy is prohibited." That includes any talk about downloading games or "asking for system files, ROMs, encryption keys, shader caches, and discussion of leaked games etc." Even a mention of the word piracy with regard to legal questions is enough to earn a warning on the Discord, according to those rules.
[...]
Looking on the bright side, though, Sharpie added that outsized early attention for Suyu also "provide[s] ample opportunity to recruit the experienced developers we need to ensure this project actually gets somewhere." Potential contributors are required to sign a license agreement [gitlab.com] for copyright management reasons and are encouraged to follow some best practices [gitlab.com] regarding style and workflow.

Whether or not Suyu actually manages to "get somewhere," the project's quick emergence after Yuzu's shutdown shows how tough it can be for console makers to completely kill open source emulators via legal maneuvering.

Previously on SoylentNews:
Switch Emulator Makers Agree to Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Nintendo Lawsuit [soylentnews.org] - 20240308
Emulation Community Expresses Defiance in Wake of Nintendo's Yuzu Lawsuit [soylentnews.org] - 20240303

Original Submission