#40: Emulation is at risk

In today's digest newsletter, we look at Nintendo suing Yuzu.

Hello, and welcome to a new edition of the overkill digest newsletter, your go-to source for everything handheld devices.

I'm busy playing FFVII Rebirth and absolutely love it — and so may you, so let's get straight to today's newsletter.

Big this week

Nintendo is suing the creators of Yuzu. In an unexpected turn (I mean, the Switch is 7 years old), Nintendo decided to go after the popular Switch emulator, arguing that it's primarily used for piracy, is circumventing copyright, and thus hurting Nintendo's business. One of their arguments is that Yuzu was used to play the leaked version of Tears of the Kingdom, which was downloaded over a million times before release. Big N also points to the success of the Yuzu Patreon page, which brings in 30,000 USD per month to showcase how the developers benefited financially from piracy. This is probably the biggest news of the year so far. If – and this is a big if – this goes to court and Nintendo wins their case, it might determine the future of emulation by setting a dangerous precedence. Because if Nintendo wins, other companies might follow suit (think Sony, for example). If Nintendo lose, it might be a big slap on their wrists, but dragging Yuzu through court might still financially ruin the developers behind the emulator. Alternatively, Yuzu and Nintendo find a solution outside of court. However, the only real option I see here is Yuzu disappearing from the internet (nothing ever truly disappears, but you get what I mean). In any case, emulation is at risk, so this is a case to follow closely.

Quick Links

The Steam Dinos vs. Robots Fest sale — Another sale, another deal recommendation post by Chris. (There have been many of these lately.)
CRKD showcases a new Nitro Deck for Switch — We saw the Nitro Deck at gamescom last year and liked the accessory. The new version comes with new thumbstick placement; USB-C output — includes a USB-C to HDMI adaptor (so sort of a dock mode); two new customisable 'sidekick' buttons; an upgraded, adjustable rumble feature and Bluetooth support.
Stardew Valley 1.6 comes in March — The next major patch for the indie hit is coming on March 19th, bringing new festivals, late-game content, new items and more.
Sony is laying off 900 employees, and EA is laying off 670 workers — The sad trend of the gaming industry is continuing. This time, Sony studios like Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, and Firesprite are concerned, with Sony's London studio closing completely. On EA's side, this decision was explained as EA is "moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry".
Rumours suggest Switch 2 will be as powerful as PS4 Pro — According to reputable tech YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead, the next Switch successor will be on par with a PS4 Pro when in docked mode. As for handheld mode, the YouTuber expects the Switch 2 to have better graphics than the Steam Deck, although it runs at a lower framerate. And in another video, Moore's Law is Dead forecasts the new handheld to be priced somewhere between $399 and $499. Naturally, as always, take this with a grain of salt.