It is well known that Nintendo does not get along very well with emulation that does not run on its own, not even the one that has no profit as its aim, but pure preservation. The Japanese company has reaffirmed this after preventing the distribution of one of the most popular emulators for its consoles on Steam.
We are referring to Dolphin Emulator, the Nintendo GameCube and Wii emulator that allows you to play the entire catalog of games that appeared on both platforms, thanks to its high compatibility and many years of development.
The project dates from 2003, when it started in a closed way, but in 2008 it became open source. Since then, more than 200 people have contributed to the project and they surprised when in March 2023 they announced that the Dolphin emulator would arrive on Steam; in fact, already had an official page.
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Nintendo banned Dolphin from Steam
However, at the time of writing the note, if you want to go to the Dolphin Emulator page on Steam, the link will redirect you to the official page, as is often the case with links to non-existent or removed Steam pages. And this is so because it is what has just happened with the official Dolphin Emulator page.
The person responsible for this was Nintendo, who contacted Valve to ask him to remove the emulator’s page on Steam, something he was able to do thanks to the copyright protection law (DMCA).
In case you missed it: Nintendo also banned emulators for its consoles on Xbox.
“It is with great disappointment that we announce that the launch of Dolphin on Steam has been postponed indefinitely,” reads the official announcement from those responsible for the project. “Valve has notified us that Nintendo has filed a copyright claim against Dolphin’s Steam page, and we have removed Dolphin from Steam until the matter is resolved.”
Honestly, knowing Nintendo’s record on copyright, the Japanese company has the upper hand in this case. However, those responsible for Dolphin Emulator are somewhat hopeful and state that they are exploring the alternatives they have and hope to offer an answer in the future.
“We appreciate your patience in the meantime,” they said.
It is important to make it clear that this does not mean that Nintendo ended the entire project, but that it is only about its Steam page and its subsequent permission to distribute it through this platform. That being said, Dolphin Emulator can still be downloaded via the official project page.
What do you think of the new measure that Nintendo took to protect its brands? Tell us in the comments.
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Related video: Preservation or Piracy?
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