The Dolphin emulator team is abandoning its efforts to release Dolphin on Steam
The Dolphin emulator team is abandoning its efforts to release Dolphin on Steam
by LinkWink
28 Comments
LinkWink
> So, after a long stay of silence, we have a difficult announcement to make. We are abandoning our efforts to release Dolphin on Steam. Valve ultimately runs the store and can set any condition they wish for software to appear on it. But given Nintendo’s long-held stance on emulation, we find Valve’s requirement for us to get approval from Nintendo for a Steam release to be impossible.
julia_is_here
It would be a waste of time to launch an emulator on Steam.
As a matter of fact, my preferred platform is Steam, but using emulation there is asking for trouble.
Naturally, all of this is just my humble opinion.
Kirayourlover
I genuinely don’t understand why Dolphin was ever required to be on Steam. Emulation is technically legal, but 99% of gamers, including myself, use dolphin to play games illegally. Through their website, it is still easily accessible online. Trying to get on steam was making themselves an unnecessary target.
k0nstantine
This just means you still have to install it in desktop mode, then select the shortcut and click Add to Steam, then configure your sound, display, and controls from scratch.
CompleteyClueless
Its for the best. If this got to big and went to court, it could have created much stricter laws on emulation
DuoEx
Don’t like how they set up that last section. Team dolphin was already rallying sympathy with that kneejerk post immediately following dolphin preorder page getting taken down, stating incorrectly that Nintendo sent them a dmca, when it was pretty explicitly valve saying they wouldn’t allow it, but then trying to call out level headed analysis as “armchair lawyers” isn’t helping them at all. Their statement regarding the legality of using encryption keys also seems to be missing a crucial point of the laws they themselves cited. The way the law is written seems to be protecting the use of their own circumvention tools, ie, them creating their own variation of the keys or finding a way to bypass the encryption, not to steal and use a copyrighted key.
Also seeing quite a bit of misinformation spreading regarding retro on steam vs dolphin on steam. RetroArch was not shut down because they covered their bases before shooting their load. Made sure any company’s proprietary data was not included in their retail release. They even removed dolphin from that release because of the keys. It seems like most devs are aware of the keys issues. It’s legally ambiguous at best and outright illegal at worst and nobody wants to roll those dice with those odds.
And obviously, moon channel is going to be brought up here, since he did a great analysis on this subject. His final point regarding the big red button is spot on, and something I’ve been saying for a bit. Nintendo games are among the most pirated, copied, modded, and asset stolen on the internet. Nintendo is yet to push that big red button for a reason, they don’t want to. And there’s a number of reasons why that’s the case, but the fact that I can pretty easily go and download one program and a couple of files on the internet and start playing almost any Nintendo game should be proof enough that Nintendo doesn’t want to smite all fan projects off the face of the earth.
MBCnerdcore
There are only 2 reasons to set it up on Steam – making it easier for Steam Deck players, and adding Achievements to Nintendo games. Both sound great but both are things Nintendo would totally hate.
lol yall hate me for speaking truth, but wont even reply with another reason
wow downvotes have doubled, and not one good reason added
No_Property2880
No shit.
Dukemon102
Oh no…. anyways
**Goes to Dolphin’s website and downloads it in 5 seconds**
iLiekBoxes
Here come the Nintendo butt kissers 💋💋
willpower_11
I wonder why they won’t just partner with RetroArch and release a Dolphin core
witwebolte41
Time to play victim some more
SambaDeAmigo2000
This whole saga has been mind-boggling. Part of the reason we can enjoy emulation in its current form is because the emulation community has been smart enough to not push the line in what is a legally grey area (we all fucking use it to pirate classic games lol).
This whole thing just screamed of hubris.
drunkentenshiNL
I’m all for easy access to older games, and I’m also understanding of why emulating older games is important to preserving them (cause some publishers don’t re-release them in a sensible way).
But at the end of the day, this was just a stupid thing to try and do.
mlvisby
At least with my Steam Deck, I have EmuDeck. That works well with emulation as long as you can get some of the system BIOS files.
TheAuraStorm
As much as I like emulation and Dolphin is great, this Steam release was a stupid and dangerous decision from the beginning. The moment emulators get a lot of attention is the moment the big companies are going to want the law do something about it.
Right now we are in a good spot. We don’t want the companies to press that big red button, emulator devs don’t want that either, even the big companies doesn’t want to do it, so Dolphin just what the hell?
ActivistZero
So it’s safe to say the Big Red Button gets put away and we can go back to the imperfect but acceptable status quo
Azores26
Good, it was a really awful idea. I mean, what difference does it make if it is or not on Steam? Don’t know why they ever thought it would work.
Hopefully there won’t be any more consequences and Dolphin can just move on from this and resume normal operation.
FreshBakedButtcheeks
What’s the point of Steam anyway my computer already runs cracked versions of games just great
lacaras21
Good, this ending up in court would have opened a can of worms nobody wants. The status quo allows emulation to continue to exist. Not even Nintendo or other developers wants it to go to court because of what it would mean if they lost. The possible outcomes are:
* Third party emulators becoming illegal
* Emulators confirmed to be legal, allowing their proliferation into the mainstream, having a greater impact to developers bottom lines, likely resulting in more lawsuits and harsher crackdowns on Rom distribution
* Emulators and distribution of Roms confirmed to be legal, pretty much ending the industry as we know it
We all lose in any of those scenarios.
Dymarob
That’s fine. They don’t need Steam.
RandomRedditor44
Dumb question but how did Nintendo know that Dolphin had the Wii Common Key in their codebase? Did their lawyers call software engineers to look through the code and see how it worked?
dannyphantomfan38
as they should because there’s no way of removing the sorcecode for the gamecube/wii from the emulator, that sourcecode is what makes the emulator work
KazzieMono
Reading the article, first time I’m hearing some pets of emulation are actually protected under law. The reason nintendo hasn’t challenged any emulators in court is because of that exemption. Super interesting stuff.
And apparently the Wii common key wasn’t a concern at all. Made absolutely no difference.
Ganaham
Smart move. Companies don’t want to risk taking emulators to court cause that’d set a precedent, but forcing their hand by making a move as aggressive as putting emulators on Steam is poking the giant.
Willie-Alb
as soon as we saw they were trying to get on steam, I think every single one of us knew it wasn’t happening. and I don’t really understand why they wanted to either. I refuse to believe that they didn’t know that Nintendo was going to jump them immediately.
FlyingChihuahua
why would you even do that in the first place, unless you want to get the shit beaten out of you by lawyers.
ArenPlaysGames_R
Fine by me. If you really wanna add it to Steam just add it as a Non-Steam Game. Even then, adding it to Steam puts a target on the devs’ back since Valve has put Portal 1 & 2 on Switch and seeing Steam greenlight an emulator of two of their consoles could really sour their relationship. Just be glad Ninty just told them “Don’t put this on Steam” and not “Shut down your operation or will do it for you.”
Not to mention SteamGridDB has assets that make nearly any game you add to Steam look like an official Steam release.
28 Comments
> So, after a long stay of silence, we have a difficult announcement to make. We are abandoning our efforts to release Dolphin on Steam. Valve ultimately runs the store and can set any condition they wish for software to appear on it. But given Nintendo’s long-held stance on emulation, we find Valve’s requirement for us to get approval from Nintendo for a Steam release to be impossible.
It would be a waste of time to launch an emulator on Steam.
As a matter of fact, my preferred platform is Steam, but using emulation there is asking for trouble.
Naturally, all of this is just my humble opinion.
I genuinely don’t understand why Dolphin was ever required to be on Steam. Emulation is technically legal, but 99% of gamers, including myself, use dolphin to play games illegally. Through their website, it is still easily accessible online. Trying to get on steam was making themselves an unnecessary target.
This just means you still have to install it in desktop mode, then select the shortcut and click Add to Steam, then configure your sound, display, and controls from scratch.
Its for the best. If this got to big and went to court, it could have created much stricter laws on emulation
Don’t like how they set up that last section. Team dolphin was already rallying sympathy with that kneejerk post immediately following dolphin preorder page getting taken down, stating incorrectly that Nintendo sent them a dmca, when it was pretty explicitly valve saying they wouldn’t allow it, but then trying to call out level headed analysis as “armchair lawyers” isn’t helping them at all. Their statement regarding the legality of using encryption keys also seems to be missing a crucial point of the laws they themselves cited. The way the law is written seems to be protecting the use of their own circumvention tools, ie, them creating their own variation of the keys or finding a way to bypass the encryption, not to steal and use a copyrighted key.
Also seeing quite a bit of misinformation spreading regarding retro on steam vs dolphin on steam. RetroArch was not shut down because they covered their bases before shooting their load. Made sure any company’s proprietary data was not included in their retail release. They even removed dolphin from that release because of the keys. It seems like most devs are aware of the keys issues. It’s legally ambiguous at best and outright illegal at worst and nobody wants to roll those dice with those odds.
And obviously, moon channel is going to be brought up here, since he did a great analysis on this subject. His final point regarding the big red button is spot on, and something I’ve been saying for a bit. Nintendo games are among the most pirated, copied, modded, and asset stolen on the internet. Nintendo is yet to push that big red button for a reason, they don’t want to. And there’s a number of reasons why that’s the case, but the fact that I can pretty easily go and download one program and a couple of files on the internet and start playing almost any Nintendo game should be proof enough that Nintendo doesn’t want to smite all fan projects off the face of the earth.
There are only 2 reasons to set it up on Steam – making it easier for Steam Deck players, and adding Achievements to Nintendo games. Both sound great but both are things Nintendo would totally hate.
lol yall hate me for speaking truth, but wont even reply with another reason
wow downvotes have doubled, and not one good reason added
No shit.
Oh no…. anyways
**Goes to Dolphin’s website and downloads it in 5 seconds**
Here come the Nintendo butt kissers 💋💋
I wonder why they won’t just partner with RetroArch and release a Dolphin core
Time to play victim some more
This whole saga has been mind-boggling. Part of the reason we can enjoy emulation in its current form is because the emulation community has been smart enough to not push the line in what is a legally grey area (we all fucking use it to pirate classic games lol).
This whole thing just screamed of hubris.
I’m all for easy access to older games, and I’m also understanding of why emulating older games is important to preserving them (cause some publishers don’t re-release them in a sensible way).
But at the end of the day, this was just a stupid thing to try and do.
At least with my Steam Deck, I have EmuDeck. That works well with emulation as long as you can get some of the system BIOS files.
As much as I like emulation and Dolphin is great, this Steam release was a stupid and dangerous decision from the beginning. The moment emulators get a lot of attention is the moment the big companies are going to want the law do something about it.
Right now we are in a good spot. We don’t want the companies to press that big red button, emulator devs don’t want that either, even the big companies doesn’t want to do it, so Dolphin just what the hell?
So it’s safe to say the Big Red Button gets put away and we can go back to the imperfect but acceptable status quo
Good, it was a really awful idea. I mean, what difference does it make if it is or not on Steam? Don’t know why they ever thought it would work.
Hopefully there won’t be any more consequences and Dolphin can just move on from this and resume normal operation.
What’s the point of Steam anyway my computer already runs cracked versions of games just great
Good, this ending up in court would have opened a can of worms nobody wants. The status quo allows emulation to continue to exist. Not even Nintendo or other developers wants it to go to court because of what it would mean if they lost. The possible outcomes are:
* Third party emulators becoming illegal
* Emulators confirmed to be legal, allowing their proliferation into the mainstream, having a greater impact to developers bottom lines, likely resulting in more lawsuits and harsher crackdowns on Rom distribution
* Emulators and distribution of Roms confirmed to be legal, pretty much ending the industry as we know it
We all lose in any of those scenarios.
That’s fine. They don’t need Steam.
Dumb question but how did Nintendo know that Dolphin had the Wii Common Key in their codebase? Did their lawyers call software engineers to look through the code and see how it worked?
as they should because there’s no way of removing the sorcecode for the gamecube/wii from the emulator, that sourcecode is what makes the emulator work
Reading the article, first time I’m hearing some pets of emulation are actually protected under law. The reason nintendo hasn’t challenged any emulators in court is because of that exemption. Super interesting stuff.
And apparently the Wii common key wasn’t a concern at all. Made absolutely no difference.
Smart move. Companies don’t want to risk taking emulators to court cause that’d set a precedent, but forcing their hand by making a move as aggressive as putting emulators on Steam is poking the giant.
as soon as we saw they were trying to get on steam, I think every single one of us knew it wasn’t happening. and I don’t really understand why they wanted to either. I refuse to believe that they didn’t know that Nintendo was going to jump them immediately.
why would you even do that in the first place, unless you want to get the shit beaten out of you by lawyers.
Fine by me. If you really wanna add it to Steam just add it as a Non-Steam Game. Even then, adding it to Steam puts a target on the devs’ back since Valve has put Portal 1 & 2 on Switch and seeing Steam greenlight an emulator of two of their consoles could really sour their relationship. Just be glad Ninty just told them “Don’t put this on Steam” and not “Shut down your operation or will do it for you.”
Not to mention SteamGridDB has assets that make nearly any game you add to Steam look like an official Steam release.