Valve helped Nintendo kick the Dolphin Emulator off Steam

[John Elden Ring]

Read the emails: Valve helped Nintendo kick the Dolphin Emulator off Steam

But it may have a very good reason for playing chicken.

www.theverge.com

According to copies of communication that the Dolphin Team provided to The Verge, Valve helped Nintendo kick Dolphin out — first by bringing the Wii and GameCube emulator to Nintendo’s attention in the first place, and second by unilaterally deciding to pull the plug without giving Dolphin an out.

Valve doesn’t dispute this. “Given Nintendo’s history of taking action against some emulators, we brought this to their attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam,” Valve spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle tells The Verge.

The emails also show Valve may have had very good reason to nip Dolphin in the bud.

Here’s the entire email that Valve received from Nintendo’s lawyers on May 26th, so you can follow along:

“Thank you for bringing the announced offering of the Dolphin emulator on Valve’s Steam store to Nintendo’s attention,”

Nintendo’s lawyer says. Email via Dolphin Team.

 

[anonpuffs]

Boohoo. It's their storefront, they can prohibit selling whatever they want.

 

[Deleted member 417]

Can't buy it legally? Then the alternative is to get it illegally.

 

[Systemshock2023]

I don't find much value in this push for emulators on steam. RetroArch standalone is still better than the steam version. And doñpjim is really easy to setup

 

[Nhomnhom]

Betrayal of the highest order from Valve. It sets a bad precedent.

 

[KnittedKnight]

So Valve gave Nintendo a heads up, sort of like pontius pilates, to avoid the eventual heat coming their way, and also to curry favor, and lower the competitor's rage and guard BUT Valve did not act on its own to remove the app by themselves on their own store but instead waited for Nintendo's eventual response requesting the takedown before initiating any action. So, in the PR space, it still looks like Nintendo is the "bad guy" going after some grassroot emulation team on PC, forcing Valve's hand to act.

Smart, specially on the PR space to avoid backlash from PCMR/Ahoy mateys and maintain that carefully crafted image clean, while attempting to curry favor with their competition behind the scenes. Still, completely transparent as to their end game and if I were a suit at Nintendo I wouldn't buy it one bit. Specially when moves like this are so well thought out and crafted.... you can tell brains are being very careful on it. A dumb competitor would act rashly and be reactive to events.