Nintendo goes after emulators over Tears of the Kingdom leak
It looks like Nintendo is pulling out the big guns to keep players from using the Tears of the Kingdom leaks, as emulators are next on the chopping block.
09th May 2023 17:10
Unsplash - Antonio Manaligod | Nintendo
Nintendo goes after emulators over Tears of the Kingdom leak
It looks like Nintendo is pulling out the big guns to keep players from using the Tears of the Kingdom leaks, as emulators are next on the chopping block.
09th May 2023 17:10
Unsplash - Antonio Manaligod | Nintendo
Oh, boy, the pirates have really done it now. We knew that those who had gotten a hold of the Tears of the Kingdom leak (yes, the entire game is now available to download in the darkest corners of the internet) would go nuts with it and tear through the game as soon as they could.
However, Zelda leakers have underestimated the lawyers that Nintendo has always had on standby, shutting down mods, tournaments, and unofficial merchandise seemingly in moments. Now, it looks like the Ninty law department is going nuclear.
Nintendo is coming for emulation - not just for Zelda
Nintendo is cutting out the middleman when it comes to axing Tears of the Kingdom leaks, but more than this, is making attempts to crush Nintendo Switch emulators online.
A new clampdown has been noticed by homebrew programmer ItsSimonTime, tweeting "Nintendo has just issued multiple DMCA takedown requests to GitHub, including for Lockpick, the tool for dumping keys from YOUR OWN Switch, which is absolutely ludicrous."
It comes after Tears of the Kingdom started doing the rounds when physical copies were apparently shipped early. While most of the internet went to ground, others tried to play early or even cash in on Nintendo's mistake.
This first report was immediately alarming, as going for emulators at large is a pretty big undertaking for Nintendo - and it looks like it's working for the Nintendo ninjas so far.
Nintendo has officially killed Lockpick
Since this tweet went live, ItsSimonTime has confirmed that Lockpick has been officially taken down. This is likely to result from a DMCA from Nintendo, with the homebrew programmer replying to another tweet indicating that he doesn't know how many other sites are being taken down.
Worryingly, it's unclear how many other emulators are in the firing line. Nintendo is clearly going to some pretty extreme lengths to keep its games under wraps, and though many have already seen that the damage is done, the regularly family-friendly company isn't going down without a fight.
We could've simply waited a few days to play Tears of the Kingdom as Nintendo intended, however, we should've known that wasn't going to happen. Get those fists up, pirates, because we're willing to bet the House that Mario built isn't done yet.
About The Author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
