Yuzu gotta read this

It was a busy week for Nintendo, who sued a Switch emulator out of existence, celebrated Mario day and announced a new movie. Read about all this, new Xbox announcements and help us celebrate our anniversary, all in this week’s issue. Let’s go! 

So long, Yuzu

Last week, we mentioned that Nintendo brought a lawsuit against Yuzu, accusing the emulator - which allowed users to play Switch games on other devices including PC and Steam Deck - of “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale.” Shortly after the suit was filed, Yuzu developer Tropic Haze agreed to pay Nintendo $2.4 million in a settlement, take down the emulator and its corresponding website. 

In a statement posted last Monday on the Yuzu discord, the developers said support for Yuzu and their 3DS emulator Citra was ending immediately: 

Yuzu and its team have always been against piracy. We started the projects in good faith, out of passion for Nintendo and its consoles and games, and were not intending to cause harm. But we see now that because our projects can circumvent Nintendo’s technological protection measures and allow users to play games outside of authorized hardware, they have led to extensive piracy. In particular, we have been deeply disappointed when users have used our software to leak game content prior to its release and ruin the experience for legitimate purchasers and fans.

We have come to the decision that we cannot continue to allow this to occur. Piracy was never our intention, and we believe that piracy of video games and on video game consoles should end. Effective today, we will be pulling our code repositories offline, discontinuing our Patreon accounts and Discord servers, and, soon, shutting down our websites. We hope our actions will be a small step toward ending piracy of all creators’ works.

While Yuzu and Citra will no longer be developed, both emulators are still easy to find online, as is their source code. Ryuijnx is another Switch emulator that is still up and running for individuals who want to play the games they purchased on better hardware than the Switch. 

Also read: It’s A Sad Day For Emulators

Xbox Partner Preview and Mario Day announcements

Microsoft and Nintendo both promoted future plans this past week. Let’s take a look at what each company announced.

Xbox's Partner Showcase

The Xbox Partner Showcase mentioned a number of new games, and provided release dates for others. Here are some of the highlights:

• Frostpunk 2 arrives on Game Pass July 25.
• The Lovecraftian survival horror game The Sinking City 2 was announced, and arrives in 2025.
• Creatures of Ava is an intriguing animal-based game that arrives later this year.
• Final Fantasy XIV launches on Xbox March 21.

Make sure to check out everything announced at the showcase.

Nintendo's Mario Day announcements

To celebrate Mario Day (Mar. 10, get it?) Nintendo discussed more than our favorite plumber. 

• A new Mario movie is in the works from the makers of the 2023 hit. The new film is scheduled to release April 3, 2026. 
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake releases May 23 on Switch, while Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD drops June 27.
• Game Boy's Dr. Mario, Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis come to Nintendo Switch Online March 12.
• Finally, LEGO Mario Kart sets will launch next year.

It’s our anniversary!

One year ago on March 10 - Mario Day - we officially launched The Games Letter. A lot has changed in that time, from the design of the website to the formatting of our weekly newsletter.

We want to thank all of those who subscribe to our newsletter and ask anyone who hasn’t to do so here. Apart from our newsletter, we wrote some other fun articles throughout the year. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Welcome to The Games Letter (our first post)
• From basement to big time: Gamehole celebrates 10 years
• The Games Letter 2023 Games of the Year (as chosen by our readers)
• The 23 most anticipated board games of Gen Con 2023

We have a lot of fun ideas for our next year, so make sure you subscribe today.

Side quests (more stories worth reading)

😢 Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball passed away at the age of 68. 

🐉 NASA released a Dungeons & Dragons-compatible tabletop RPG adventure.

🧽 Microsoft made a SpongeBob-themed Xbox Series X. You can pick one up for $700.

⚖️ The New York Times is going after Wordle clones with legal takedowns notices. 

👩🏼 Check out all the games shown at the Women-Led Games Showcase. 

🚫 It sounds like Warner Brothers will pull all Adult Swim-published games from digital storefronts by May. See a full list of games. After learning his game would be delisted, one indie developer made his game free. 

♟️ Ever want to play a 4,500-year-old board game? There’s a Kickstarter for a remake of The Royal Game of Ur, a Sumerian classic that dates back to the dawn of the bronze age.

🍎 Apple terminated Epic’s developer account to make games for iOS. After an investigation by the EU, Apple reinstated the account. Game World Observer has a breakdown of the key points of this squabble. 

🔚 A former Xbox executive says the end of consoles is “a serious question.” 

🎮 Previous executives apparently have a lot of thoughts on the game industry, as a former PlayStation executive says exclusivity is the “Achilles’ heel” of blockbuster games.

🏆 The 2024 BAFTA nominations are out, and Baldur's Gate 3 and Spider-Man 2 lead the way. 

👏🏾 600 Activision QA workers unionized.

💿 The physical release of Baldur's Gate 3 for Xbox may be slightly delayed, and will need four discs to contain all the fun. 

💴 While many gaming companies continue to layoff employees, Capcom is raising salaries. 

🤼🏻‍♂️ WWE 2K24 blurred out most of the in-game footage featuring Vince McMahon. 

🔫 Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 is live, and focuses heavily on Greek myths. 

🤠 Meanwhile, Overwatch 2 will feature a Cowboy Bebop crossover. 

⬇️ Remedy is lowering the minimum system requirements for Alan Wake 2 on PC. 

☢️ There’s a new trailer for the Fallout tv series, and Amazon announced all episodes will be released on Prime April 11. 

New Releases this week:

Check out 10 New Games to Play in March

3/12: Contra: Operation Galuga (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
3/12: Goblin Stone (PC)
3/12: Passing By - A Tailwind Journey (Switch and PC)
3/13: Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
3/14: Highwater (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
3/15: Outcast: A New Beginning (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)

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