Dolphin Emulator Removed from Steam Store

[T0@st]

Conflicting announcements and news items have surrounded a removal of the Dolphin emulator from Valve's Steam store - the emulation project's development team claimed that Nintendo had sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown order last week: "It is with much disappointment that we have to announce that the Dolphin on Steam release has been indefinitely postponed. We were notified by Valve that Nintendo has issued a cease and desist (order) citing the DMCA against Dolphin's Steam page, and have removed Dolphin from Steam until the matter is settled." This emulation application has been freely available online for many years, but an announcement was made back in March about a forthcoming release (Q2 2023) on the Steam store.

It has been widely reported that Nintendo is very protective of its technologies and intellectual properties - many examples of litigation (against pirating outfits and leakers) have been covered over the past year or two - but according to various sources (emerging over the weekend) it seems that Valve first flagged Dolphin as a potential legal headache. Valve apparently sought Nintendo's opinion about the matter of a Gamecube and Wii emulator getting distribution via Steam. A former treasurer on the Dolphin Emulation Project, Pierre Bourdon, criticized claims of the supposed takedown order and posited the following negotiations between involved parties: In this case, none of this process was followed. To the best of my understanding, this is what happened: "Valve legal contacted Nintendo of America (NoA) to ask "hey, what do you think about Dolphin?" Nintendo replied to Valve "we think it's bad and also that it violates the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions" (note: nothing about violating copyright itself). Also "please take it down." Valve legal takes it down and forwards NoA's reply to the Dolphin Foundation contact address."




Kotaku has managed to extract a comment from Nintendo about the complicated situation - a spokesperson replied via email: "Nintendo is committed to protecting the hard work and creativity of video game engineers and developers...This emulator illegally circumvents Nintendo's protection measures and runs illegal copies of games. Using illegal emulators or illegal copies of games harms development and ultimately stifles innovation. Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and in turn expects others to do the same."

PC Gamer acquired a copy of Nintendo's legal notice (issued to Valve's legal team on May 26), and proceeded to publish an article labelling the letter as a DMCA takedown request - they have since updated their story with the consulted opinion of an attorney. Kellen Voyer of Voyer Law (intellectual property and technology law specialists) stated: "I would characterize this NOT as a DMCA take down notice and instead as a warning shot that the software, Dolphin, if released on Steam would (in Nintendo's view) violate the DMCA...Here, there is no allegation that Valve is currently hosting anything that infringes Nintendo's copyright or, more broadly, violates the DMCA. Rather, Nintendo is sending clear notice to Valve that it considers Dolphin to violate the DMCA and should it be released on Steam, Nintendo will likely take further action. Given that Valve controls what is available on its store, it made the decision not to wade into any dispute between the Dolphin developers and Nintendo and, instead, followed Nintendo's preemptive request and took down the Steam page."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[ZoneDymo]

Jesus Christ Valve is spineless, heres hoping the Epicstore will show some guts and host it instead.

I mean seriously, here is not just some individual hobbyist that some giant asshole company like Nintendo can just threaten and bully around...here is a company that is suppose to completely stand for this sorta technology....and they turn as faceless corporate as all of them?
Honestly someone push a camera in Newells face and see what he has to say for himself and his company because man.....is this the Valve today? have they fallen completely as well?

 

[ir_cow]

Jesus Christ Valve is spineless, heres hoping the Epicstore will show some guts and host it instead

How so? It's already proven that the Dolphin Emulator is using Nintendo source code to decrypt Wii Games.

@4:44 it is shown the Nintendo source code (common key) inside the Dolphin program. The common key can only be acquired from within the BIOS file, which is copywrite.

 

[kapone32]

How so? It's already proven that the Dolphin Emulator is using Nintendo source code to decrypt Wii Games.

@4:44 it is shown the Nintendo source code (common key) inside the Dolphin program. The common key can only be acquired from within the BIOS file, which is copywrite.

You definitely don't want to mess with Nintendo. They do not play with IP theft and as soon as they were able to prove that I am surprised it took this long.

 

[Solaris17]

Good for Nintendo. I’m not even sure how Dolphin made it this far, or what they even honestly expected to happen lmao.

 

[Space Lynx]

Good for Nintendo. I’m not even sure how Dolphin made it this far, or what they even honestly expected to happen lmao.

is Dolphin located in a "undisclosed" location in a third world country? if so, they probably don't care what Nintendo does, they will just find somewhere else to send it out

I honestly don't know, and don't use the emulator myself.

 

[Prima.Vera]

People never learn I guess. The effect will be exactly the opposite intended.
More piracy for Nintendo games, more users going to pirate channels to download the emulator, and guess what else. Nintendo pirated games.
The Nintendo DS fiasco all over again. I guess some things never change...

 

[Imouto]

How so? It's already proven that the Dolphin Emulator is using Nintendo source code to decrypt Wii Games.

No, it doesn't. The common key is just a number and numbers can't be copyrighted.

The Dolphin project has been going on for 20 years because it's not doing anything wrong and Nintendo knows it.

 

[Space Lynx]

People never learn I guess. The effect will be exactly the opposite intended.
More piracy for Nintendo games, more users going to pirate channels to download the emulator, and guess what else. Nintendo pirated games.
The Nintendo DS fiasco all over again. I guess some things never change...

yeah people that want it, will find it somewhere else. lol

good on steam for not bothering with all the drama. and as long as steam keeps supporting open source linux, our lives will get better. I wouldn't be surprised if linux didn't exist, that Nintendo and M$ teamed up to put in emulator blockers in the next OS released. lol

thank goodness for open source linux, saved us all. rock on mates

 

[skizzo]

Dolphin on Steam makes ZERO sense to me?! why the hell would that even be desirable as opposed to just downloading it like a normal human being from the official website? You can create a non-Steam game and launch the emulator or emulated games that way and still have all the benefits as if it were through the Steam Store

 

[ir_cow]

No, it doesn't. The common key is just a number and numbers can't be copyrighted.

The Dolphin project has been going on for 20 years because it's not doing anything wrong and Nintendo knows it.

Well the claim is that the key can only be found in the BIOS, which is property of Nintendo. Hence why it is under copywrite.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Well the claim is that the key can only be found in the BIOS, which is property of Nintendo. Hence why it is under copywrite.

Not true, I found it in that video, I mean where they got is non of my concern of course.

 

[skizzo]

Well the claim is that the key can only be found in the BIOS, which is property of Nintendo. Hence why it is under copywrite.

this isn't making sense to me.....this has to be one of the most prolific emulators to ever be developed. so I find it hard to believe that Nintendo wouldn't have taken steps to shut it down completely and possibly even bring criminal charges against developers or webhosts, etc people and organizations involved if that was even remotely accurate. I mean, it's been around since like 2007 or so.....I remember first putting it on my Windows XP system. If it's a copy write violation it would be a homerun easy peasy case, at least that's my assumption. So.....what is stopping them (Nintendo) from stomping this emulator out? Not that I want them to....it just seems unlikely there is a real violation because Dolphin always claims to be a clean room environment and I would believe that is one of if not the reason it has been capable of ducking such problems for its lifetime.

 

[Imouto]

Well the claim is that the key can only be found in the BIOS, which is property of Nintendo. Hence why it is under copywrite.

It's not. If it was... If there was the faintest possibility that Nintendo could claim that at court they would have done so over a decade ago. It's just a number and that's why it can't be taken down from Github and why Nintendo has been sitting on their hands for two decades about it.

 

[ir_cow]

Well when you pull a bullet on yourself, people start to ask questions of how legitimate the emulator is

It sounded good at first because supposedly it was coded from scratch, but clearly those keys shouldn't be there. Hence the requested take down.

 

[TechLurker]

Dolphin on Steam makes ZERO sense to me?! why the hell would that even be desirable as opposed to just downloading it like a normal human being from the official website? You can create a non-Steam game and launch the emulator or emulated games that way and still have all the benefits as if it were through the Steam Store

Probably for Linux gaming. The Steam Deck would have been an obvious one; just load your emulation files into the appropriate folder, run the Emulator off Steam OS, and done. Fewer steps involved compared to trying to install and run it as a separate Linux app, for the less-tech savvy.

 

[unwind-protect]

It is copyright, not "copy write".

 

[Avro Arrow]

That's right Nintendo... Just keep it up! You're already a distant third (aka DEAD LAST) in the console market and actions like this only serve to accelerate the process that will result in you being Sega's new neighbour... in Oblivion.

 

[evelynharthbrooke]

No, it doesn't. The common key is just a number and numbers can't be copyrighted.

The Dolphin project has been going on for 20 years because it's not doing anything wrong and Nintendo knows it.

actually, they can. what dolphin is including in their source code is something known as an illegal number, which means that they are including a copyrighted number in their source code, in this case a decryption key used to decrypt the wii firmware and games. if i remember correctly, the decision to include that number involved a compromise, due to the decryption key being unable to be dumped on the console, so they included it in the source code as a compromise. however, unless the key is removed from the source code, which i doubt, i do not see dolphin ever being released on steam.

 

[JohH]

How so? It's already proven that the Dolphin Emulator is using Nintendo source code to decrypt Wii Games.

@4:44 it is shown the Nintendo source code (common key) inside the Dolphin program. The common key can only be acquired from within the BIOS file, which is copywrite.

Why is a key, a randomly generated number Nintendo decided to use as a check, considered legally property of Nintendo? Absurdity.

And implying using a key in anyway tarnishes the Dolphin project is moronic. Calling that source code is hilarious. Legally all they have to do to comply in these draconian, late-capitalist hellscapes is remove the key and ask that you (the end user) paste it yourself. Big deal, done.

Innovation in video games isn't reselling the same game over and over again for 20 years.

 

[Redwoodz]

About time to let Nintendo die anyways.

 

[skizzo]

It is copyright, not "copy write".

if you're gonna passively aggressively call someone out for a typo, at least pair that....what I have to assume is a ginormous e-peen, with equally huge balls and quote me next time. I'm well aware of the difference, but just messed it up......apologies all around for being human!

actually, they can. what dolphin is including in their source code is something known as an illegal number, which means that they are including a copyrighted number in their source code, in this case a decryption key used to decrypt the wii firmware and games. if i remember correctly, the decision to include that number involved a compromise, due to the decryption key being unable to be dumped on the console, so they included it in the source code as a compromise. however, unless the key is removed from the source code, which i doubt, i do not see dolphin ever being released on steam.

even if the # was removed, Nintendo has made a line in the sand and will dig their heels in now. They will clearly never be OK with Dolphin being released onto a storefront platform. It won't happen no matter what is changed about the emulator.

 

[unwind-protect]

Actually the wikipedia entry has been updated already. It references that Nintendo played the "illegal number" card:

Illegal number - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

if you're gonna passively aggressively call someone out for a typo, at least pair that....what I have to assume is a ginormous e-peen, with equally huge balls and quote me next time. I'm well aware of the difference, but just messed it up......apologies all around for being human!

You weren't the only one and there was no reason to single you out.

 

[skizzo]

I'm not so sure that "source" is the best in the wikipedia article with the blurb about Dolphin...it's an article that was updated yesterday and published the day before lol as if this is some new issue I suppose. if such damning evidence of a genuine violation I don't get why this wasn't a slam dunk open and shut case on shutting down the emulation project over a decade ago. it's a head scratcher bc if Nintendo could shut it down.....why haven't they shut it down?

You weren't the only one and there was no reason to single you out.

and you're right again. that's two corrections in one thread. lol I didn't notice the other typos....now I wonder if that subconsciously made me do the same typo. I need to step away from the keyboard before I post more dumb crap

 

[THU31]

Nintendo is a state of mind.