The common supervisor of Nintendo’s IP division has clarified the corporate’s position on emulation.
Koji Nishiura – who can also be a patent attorney – offered a lecture at Japan’s Association of Copyright for Computer Software on the Tokyo eSports Festa 2025 final week entitled “The Importance of Intellectual Property Rights in the Game Industry.”
As reported by Denfaminicogamer (by way of Automaton), Nishiura acknowledged that while emulation software program alone isn’t inherently unlawful, an emulator may “become illegal depending on how it’s used.”
For occasion, if an emulator copied a title or linked to websites the place gamers may obtain pirated video games, that may represent copyright infringement. Or if an emulator disabled its recreation encryption or “technical protection measures,” that may violate Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
Nishiura defined that it is due to the following unlawful utility of emulators that Nintendo is targeted on preventing emulation creators like Yuzu – not simply to guard its personal IP, however that of different builders who produce video games for Nintendo {hardware}, too.
Earlier at this time, Nintendo revealed its first official look at the Switch 2, confirming that the console will release in 2025.
