Dolphin emulator Steam release delayed indefinitely following Nintendo DMCA
Posted on May 27, 2023 by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News
The Steam listing for Dolphin has been pulled and its release has been delayed indefinitely after Nintendo submitted a DMCA takedown request with Valve.
It was announced at the end of March that the emulator would be joining the distribution service with its launch targeted for later in the year. However, it’s now unclear if and when that will be happening.
The official legal notice reads:
Because the Dolphin emulator violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights, including but not limited to its rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s Anti-Circumvention and AntiTrafficking provisions, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, we provide this notice to you of your obligation to remove the offering of the Dolphin emulator from the Steam store.
The Dolphin emulator operates by incorporating these cryptographic keys without Nintendo’s authorisation and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime. Thus, use of the Dolphin emulator unlawfully ‘circumvent[s] a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under’ the Copyright Act.
The Dolphin team said on its website that “the Dolphin on Steam release has been indefinitely postponed.” Further mentioned is that they “were notified by Valve that Nintendo has issued a DMCA against Dolphin’s Steam page, and have removed Dolphin from Steam until the matter is settled.” The team is now exploring different options and is planning “a more in-depth response in the near future.”
The Dolphin emulator got its start two decades ago. With it, PC owners can play GameCube and Wii titles.
