Discord is nuking Nintendo Switch emulator devs and their entire servers

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses Discord's decision to shut down the servers for the Nintendo Switch emulators Suyu and Sudachi, and disable the accounts of their lead developers. It examines the legal and policy implications of Discord's actions, as well as the potential impact on the emulator community.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Discord's Actions

1. What was Discord's justification for shutting down the Suyu and Sudachi servers and disabling the developers' accounts? According to Discord, they responded to and complied with a DMCA request and a court-ordered injunction to take down the materials. However, it is unclear if there was a valid DMCA takedown request or if the communities were actually violating intellectual property rights.

2. Did Discord follow its own policy in handling this situation? The article suggests that Discord's actions, such as permabanning users and nuking entire servers, do not align with its stated policy of only taking down the infringing content and allowing users to file counter-notices.

3. What was the reaction of the Suyu and Sudachi developers? The Suyu and Sudachi developers claim they were not given clear reasons for the actions taken against them, and that they were not informed of any previous warnings or DMCA requests.

[02] Legal Implications

1. What was the status of the Yuzu emulator and its relation to Suyu and Sudachi? Yuzu was previously sued by Nintendo, but the settlement did not give Nintendo rights to Yuzu's GPL v3 code. The developers of Suyu and Sudachi claimed they were modifying the code to avoid issues with Nintendo.

2. How does the court order mentioned by Discord relate to the Suyu and Sudachi projects? The court order specifically mentions third parties "acting in active concert and participation with Defendant" in relation to Yuzu, but Discord did not provide any evidence that the Suyu or Sudachi developers were connected to the Yuzu project.

[03] Broader Implications

1. What other tools and projects were targeted by Nintendo's DMCA takedown requests? In addition to the Switch emulators, Nintendo also sent DMCA takedown requests to GitHub to remove tools that help Switch owners and developers obtain encryption keys.

2. How might this situation impact the emulator community? The article suggests that the actions against Suyu and Sudachi may have been the "last straw" for some developers, leading to infighting and potential splintering of the projects.