A Nintendo lawyer explains why the company is against emulators
, by Thibaut
In recent years, Nintendo has embarked on a crusade against emulation that has resulted in several emulators being taken down from the Internet.
During the Tokyo eSport Festa 2025, patent lawyer and deputy general manager of Nintendo's intellectual property department Koji Nishiura spoke on the subject.
He went back and forth over the legal and illegal aspects of emulation, before going on an explaining the Japanese company's position on the matter.
"To begin with, are emulators illegal or not? This is a point often debated. While you can’t immediately claim that an emulator is illegal in itself, it can become illegal depending on how it’s used."
Indeed, if an emulator copies a game from the targeted console, this is an infringement of copyright. Furthermore, if the emulator breaks the security of a program, this would be illegal too. These are reasons that usually prompt Nintendo to take legal action against the owners of such software.
Last but not least, an emulator is deemed illegal if it features links to sources for downloading pirated games. Nishiura also states that emulators are a big problem for all of those who work on software for Nintendo consoles.
In other words, the company will still pursue those practices.
Source: automaton-media.com