Nintendo Shuts Down Steam Launch Of Dolphin Emulator

The development team of Dolphin, the Wii/GameCube emulator announced on May 27 that Nintendo’s legal department was attempting to stop the software being launched on Steam. The Dolphin team continues to investigate its options and the project has been “indefinitely delayed.” The full blog post is here:

Originally reported on by PCGamer. This isn’t a DMCA removal, but merely a warning. Kellen Voyer, an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and technology law spoke with PCGamer and said, “Here, there is no allegation that Valve is currently hosting anything that infringes Nintendo’s copyright or, more broadly, violates the DMCA.  Nintendo wants Valve to know that Dolphin is a violation of the DMCA, and should Steam release it, Nintendo would likely pursue further actions.

Dolphin is a 20-year old program that was first created as closed source software in 2003. It then became open source in 2008 This past March, the team announced plans to bring the program to Steam, which would have likely increased the number of people with access to its services. Dolphin’s programmers will be up against a tough task if they choose to battle Nintendo’s blocking. Nintendo’s brutality is well-known in courts of law. Whether it’s shutting off fan content, or pushing for harsh punishments for hackers. In the meantime, the service is still available on Dolphin’s website, since the team itself has yet to receive any warning directly from Nintendo.

Source: PCGamer and IGN

Dolphin is expected to release on Steam in the future, do you agree? Comment below!