The Dolphin Emulator has long been held up as a great example of emulation, becoming the go-to tool for emulating Wii and GameCube games. For a while, it looked like the emulator was coming to Steam. This would make Dolphin even easier to run! However, the planned launch never went ahead. There’s been a lot of rumours about why the emulator couldn’t make the move. However, devs have finally spoken out with a lengthy explanation of why Dolphin is not on Steam.
As Super Smash Bros Melee remains one of the most popular competitive fighting games of all time, the emulator has become key to a lot of players getting involved in the game. With original hardware being much more expensive, emulators like Dolphin are important for lowering the barrier to entry, at least until players get good enough to invest in the right controllers and game. With the Steam launch not going ahead, Nintendo’s protectiveness about emulation has once again come into focus. The devs behind Dolphin have finally explained why Dolphin is not on Steam though.
WHY IS DOLPHIN NOT ON STEAM?
The Dolphin Steam release isn’t going ahead, but we’ve got the full story of what exactly happened. Rather than directly taking legal action, Nintendo was instead simply responding to questions from Steam. It seems Valve contacted Nintendo to double-check if Dolphin should be allowed on the platform. Nintendo cited concerns over Dolphin’s ability to decrypt Wii games. Then, asked the emulator not to go up on the platform. While they did not issue a DMCA takedown notice, they did ask for it not to be listed. They used DMCA as the grounds to Valve to not let Dolphin on Steam.
The developers behind the emulator have explained in length the other utilities of Dolphin and why they believe the emulator should have been allowed. However, they’ve also said that Dolphin on Steam is ultimately down to Valve to decide. They can ban any software for any reason. It’s not quite as much of an outrage as Nintendo taking down Slippi.
The developers behind Dolphin have said that some of the planned features are now going to be released in the base version. While Dolphin not on Steam after this is frustrating, at least the new innovations will be seeing the light of day.
The update also went into detail that the developers behind Dolphin hadn’t received a new takedown notice from Nintendo. This means they’re relatively safe with their current work, which was a worry after the listing was removed. It’ll still be one of the best emulators around. While listing on a platform like Steam might not be possible, Dolphin will still be available in an even better form elsewhere.
