So a very interesting move by Nintendo just recently happened concerning the Steam release of Dolphin, an emulator that specialises in Gamecube and Wii games. Nintendo have decided to send Valve a legal notice that essentially tells them that they feel as though Dolphin violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights and so if they decided to release it on their platform then they would begin a DMCA Copyright Takedown to have it removed from the storefront, as a result for now the program has been delisted from Steam.
Now this is odd as Dolphin has been around for a long time and Nintendo only deciding to throw their legal team at it now when it is due to come out on Steam is a strange move to say the least. Most people, including myself, suspect that this is because it would gain a lot more attention on Steam and, most importantly, could be natively played on the Steam Deck which would put a very big damper on Nintendo’s efforts to sell you retro games on the Switch as Dolphin would just do it better in most ways.
It’s a pretty anti-consumer move but it’s unfortunately standard practice for Nintendo nowadays. They do love to have a strangehold over their IP’s. It’s unknown if the program will ever return to Steam but for the moment it at least seems safe to continue to operate outside of Valve’s platform. Let’s just hope it stays that way…
That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.