Popular Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx shuts down amid crackdown from Nintendo

A popular Nintendo Switch emulator is no longer playable after intervention from the Japanese video game company.

Ryujinx, an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS, shared a screenshot of the announcement on its X page on Tuesday. The emulator's creator, gdkchan, was contacted by Nintendo on Monday, according to the announcement written by riperiperi, one of Ryujinx's developers.

"Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of," the announcement reads. "While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is. Rather than leave you with only panic and speculation, I decided to write this short message to give some closure."

The emulator began as a single-developer project in 2017, a small team of developers joined afterward, according to Ryujinx's website. Ryujinx also contained more than 3,200 playable games for its supporters.

"Thank you all for following us throughout the development. I was able to learn a lot of really neat things about games that I love, enjoy them with renewed qualities and in unique circumstances, and I’m sure you all have experiences that are similarly special," the announcement reads.

USA TODAY contacted Nintendo on Tuesday, but the company directed any questions to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) concerning this situation.

"The industry is committed to protecting the creativity and hard work of video game developers. Illegal circumvention of copyright protections or engaging in copyright piracy stifles innovation and hampers the development of the entertainment experiences that are enjoyed by millions of players here in the U.S. and around the world," according to an industry statement on copyright protection shared to USA TODAY by Aubrey Quinn, a spokesperson for the ESA.

Nintendo recently took down another popular Switch emulator

Ryujinx shutting down comes as Nintendo has begun cracking down on emulators following a lawsuit against Tropic Haze, the creators of another popular Switch emulator, Yuzu.

Tropic Haze paid $2.4 million in damages in the settlement with Nintendo, and Yuzu was shut down permanently, IGN reported. Nintendo claimed that "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" was pirated 1 million times before it was released to the public, according to the outlet, which cites the lawsuit.

The company also issued a takedown notice to Tropic Haze to remove copies of the video game's code from Yuzu, IGN said.

Emulators are not illegal, but downloading copyrighted material from games off of the internet is, the Spokesman-Review reported.