Nintendo has gone on another emulation-related DMCA spree, but this time the company's target is, uh, let me check my notes here… ah, pictures of Switch games.
SteamGridDB is a site where users can upload custom images built for use in the Steam library. Many of the images take the form of alternate headers or box art for games that are already on Steam, so you can customize how those games appear in your library. But SteamGridDB is primarily used when you add a non-Steam game to your library - such as, for example, a console game you're playing through an emulator.
Switch emulators have gotten particularly robust over the years, and they've become particularly desirable since the launch of the Steam Deck - clearly, even somebody at Valve had been making use of a Switch emulator on the handheld. Nintendo hasn't been happy about that fact, even been going after YouTube videos demonstrating how to install Switch emulators to the device.
Now, they've issued a DMCA takedown notice against SteamGridDB for images related to six Switch games: Pokemon Scarlet, Pokemon Violet, Splatoon 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The announcement was made on the site's Discord channel (via GBAtemp).
Some users are already attempting to reupload the affected images, though it remains to be seen how long they'll remain in place. Others are uploading goofy DMCA-friendly versions of the box art.
Again, SteamGridDB only hosts images for you to import into your Steam library. The site does not host the ROM or ISO files you'd need to actually pirate a video game. The selection of games affected by the DMCA notice is pretty strange, too - there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of other Nintendo games represented on the site, many of them on Switch. It simply seems Nintendo is taking whatever strange, small steps it can to keep its biggest Switch games from being associated with Steam or the Steam Deck.
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