Unless you've been living in a cave these past few weeks, you'll know that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaked ahead of release. Not only did a fan or two manage to get their hands on an early copy, the entire ROM has been shared online that anyone is able to download and play so long as their Switch has been tampered with. This was bound to happen, as it did with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, with the last two weeks a minefield of big spoilers for anyone hoping to go in unaware. It's not just gameplay clips and mechanics - entire cutscenes and plot synopsis are now out in the wild, and Nintendo has taken action.
Nintendo has an incentive to go after unauthorized streams, videos, or screenshots that have since emerged online, since it has a right to protect an experience that isn't officially in the public domain quite yet. If they catch a few naughty gamers playing it through illegitimate means and have the means to stop them, that's also fair game. But you cross a weird line as potential prosecution and jail time comes into the equation. We saw a high profile example of this recently, with an individual responsible for hosting and sharing ROMs forced to give up a percentage of his income to Nintendo for the rest of his life. It doesn't need that money, it's to send a message that a similar punishment awaits for anyone else who dares to cross them.
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Now the hammer is falling down on Switch emulation, at least according to those heavily involved in the scene. This week has seen Nintendo issue copyright takedown notices for a selection of open source emulation tools hosted on GitHub. This included Lockpick, which is essential for dumping and backing up your own physical games without any piracy involved. Homebrew enthusiasts from across the internet are speaking up about this, and how leaking Tears of the Kingdom has resulted in a scorched earth reaction that will see the community as a whole suffer.
Nintendo claims it has legal grounds to prevent software such as this doing the rounds because it impedes its business practices, although emulation and delving into platforms beyond what's intended for the status quo has always been the norm, and for corporations to suddenly march upon that ground feels unsettling. Emulation allows seasoned hands to surpass the original hardware and do some amazing things, and if the games in question are purchased legally, there should be nothing stopping them. Yet here we are.
Tears of the Kingdom is a huge game, but the reality is that after launch later this week it will be in the hands of millions and all of this legal hand-wringing will be for nothing. Things will cool down, and enthusiast programmers will have to build up their depositories from nothing until Nintendo comes along and tears it down all over again. Perhaps there is greater scrutiny on this case because the Switch is still modern hardware, and even those dumping their games with legitimate cause are interspersed with pirates pulling games for their own gain.
But what happens when a new platform comes along and emulation once again becomes one of this medium's only means for preservation? Only specific releases are cherry-picked by Nintendo for expensive remasters in-lieu of backward compatibility. Legal threats are only made now because money is involved, and there is something to gain from keeping things in order.
Nintendo will continue to get a free pass though, even as it treats the community that keeps it afloat with hostility. It alone can be the one responsible for advancements in the gaming space, and anyone who dares experiment with mods, fan games, emulation, or anything outside the status quo will feel its wrath.
We will soon reach a point where fans will walk away, or not bother with preserving games that I and millions of others love because it isn't worth the risk anymore. Nintendo doesn't seem to care enough about its own history, but it will happily punish those who do. Silencing emulation is a big deal, and once a precedent is set we'll have a hard time changing things for the better.
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