Nintendo Switch Emulator Ryujinx Has Been Shut Down

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While I am not surprised by this, it still saddens me to some degree to see this happen. Today, Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx was officially shut down. And unfortunately, it is too late to try downloading it as the Github is gone and the download page on the website is blank.

This was announced via their official discord server where one of the developers, rip in peri peri, posted an announcement confirming the emulator's removal:

Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of. While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is. Rather than leave you with only panic and speculation, I decided to write this short message to give some closure.

These words are my own. I don't want to speak for anyone else here, so just remember that while reading.

Thank you to @everyone who has contributed code, documentation or issue reports to the project. Thank you all for following us throughout the development. I was able to learn a lot of really neat things about games that I love, enjoy them with renewed qualities and in unique circumstances, and I'm sure you all have experiences that are similarly special. I'm extending my own massive thanks to our moderation team, who have been here through some rough circumstances and always found ways to make light of it.

This follows a threatened legal battle that was going to go down with Yuzu and Nintendo, which resulted in Yuzu relinquishing control of their emulator and assets and handing them over to Nintendo. Unlike that event, it seems Nintendo went to offering an agreement instead of trying to go down the legal route. Of course, this could have easily been where it ended up, but it wasn't.

After the announcement, the developer also posted some information about what they were working on behind the scenes, which includes an iOS and Android port of the emulator, a metal backend, LDN coming to master, and running native applets to improve compatibility and overall user experience.

It is a bitter-sweet end to an era, and while I personally disagree with emulating current consoles that can be purchased, I do also believe anyone can do what they want with their purchased copies of games. If you purchased Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but wanted to play it on a more powerful device that could push the framerate or resolution further, I do support being able to do that (with purchased copies, not pirated ones). The work Ryujinx did was phenomenal though, and the project will be missed.

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