The developer behind a NES Emulator for iOS says he quickly removed the app out of fear shortly after it went live in the Apple App Store.
One Game Boy emulator quickly stirred up quite a conversation afterApple removed the appfor being a copy of Riley Testut’s GBA4iOS within a day of it flying to the top of the popular apps list.
Instead, just hours after Bimmy revealed that the NES Emulator was available in the iOS App Store — heupdated fans on the MacRumors forumsthat it was removed “out of fear.”
“I’m so sorry everyone. I removed the app out of fear,” he said. “No one reached out to me pressuring me to remove it. But I’d rather not have the risk.”
The legality of emulators is questionable, as they tend to lead users looking for websites to illegally download games they don’t actually own.
There’s quite a bit of hesitancy from developers in the emulator space right now too as Nintendorecently won a lawsuit against Yuzu,a popular Nintendo Switch emulator project, whichended up with it getting shut downand the devs owing $2.4M in damages.
Nintendo shared several arguments for going after Yuzu in its initial lawsuit filing, including mentions of Yuzu allegedly profiting from the early leak and piracy of Legends of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom through increased subscribers to its Patreon.
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The company has yet to go after smaller emulators as of writing — but it’s clear that the company’s latest legal dealings with Yuzu has developers worried.
Dylan Horetski is a Senior Writer on Dexerto’s US team. He is an expert Entertainment reporter, covering Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Tech, and viral news. He also has bylines at IGN. You can contact him at: dylan.horetski@dexerto.com
