Long-time gamers tend to feel nostalgic about the games they had as a kid and find themselves wanting to play them again. However, you might not be able to play Nintendo classics on your Steam Deck, for a while, and maybe not even ever.
Valve Takes Down Emulator
Valve removed the Wii and GameCube emulator Dolphin on Steam after it received a cease and desist letter from Nintendo. The latter stated that it was only protecting the work and creativity of video game engineers and developers.
Nintendo also accused the creators of the emulator of illegally going around its protections, as mentioned in Kotaku, by using "cryptographic keys without Nintendo's authorization and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime."
The listing of Dolphin is short-lived as it only appeared on Steam this March until its recent unlisting. Reports say that Dolphin's team is currently investigating options and will have a more in-depth response soon.
The emulator has been available for a while now. It's an open-source that allows people to revisit their childhood favorites, and its former accessibility through Steam just makes Valve's handheld console all the more appealing.
Right now, there is still no news as to how the cease and desist is being handled. All the developers of Dolphin said was that it will be "indefinitely postponed." Saying it's postponed is a good sign since it means that it will likely come back. The "indefinitely" part, not so much.
There might actually be legal grounds should Nintendo decide to file a lawsuit. A Twitter user who goes by Yakumono stated that upon checking, the emulator's source code contains the Wii Common Key.
Read Also: The 5 Biggest Problems With The Nintendo Switch
Nintendo, a Formidable Legal Foe
Hopefully, this doesn't turn into a legal matter and it could be settled quietly. If it does, then Steam Deck players might not be able to play Nintendo classics on the Steam Deck ever, given that Nintendo is able to afford all the legal assistance they need.
The video game giant had just won a lawsuit against them this February. The class-action suit accuses Nintendo of knowingly selling faulty Joy-Con products, as reported by Game Rant. Unluckily for them, the console had an end-user license agreement that prevents that.
The lawsuit was still filed by the parents who voiced their complaints, but in order to circumvent the license agreement, they framed it in a way that their kids, unbound by a contract, were filing the lawsuit. Of course, it did not work.
Nintendo also has the tendency to go after content creators and streamers when their content is related to the company. The videos would be demonetized and the revenue would all go to Nintendo, as mentioned in The Gamer.
Just like EA, Nintendo is sensitive when it comes to the use of its products, and they have a long record of going against people who they believe are using its content illegally, such as the use of its music or just plain piracy of its games.
Related: Steam Deck's Latest Update Lets You Transfer Games From PCs
