Steam Wants Nothing To Do With Nintendo's Piracy Drama

thegamer.com:

Valve has responded to Nintendo's latest piracy drama, making it clear it wants to stay out of the situation entirely. This comes after Nintendo put legal pressure on the Dolphin emulator, ahead of its planned release on Steam.

Now, it turns out that Valve - well aware of Nintendo's militant attitude against anyone emulating its games - actually wrote to the company to give it a heads-up about Dolphin's Steam launch. In response to Nintendo's objections, Valve blocked the release, wanting to stay far away from the ensuing legal drama. This is a surprising move on Steam's part, given that the storefront usually prides itself on its openness, and very rarely intervenes on what can and cannot be promoted on its service.

Related: Go To Steam Right Now And Buy A Game

This comes from communications seen by The Verge, proving that Valve took the unexpected move of preventing Dolphin from releasing on Steam. Valve admits to this, saying that it doesn't want to "sit in judgment" on the dispute between the two parties, and says they will have to "go to court, or negotiate between themselves."

"We operate Steam as an open platform, but that relies on creators shipping only things they have the legal right to distribute," reads a statement from Valve. "Given Nintendo’s history of taking action against some emulators, we brought this to their attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam.

"Based on the letter we received, Nintendo and the Dolphin team have a clear legal dispute between them, and Valve can’t sit in judgment."

In a letter also seen by The Verge, Nintendo makes it clear that it would try to hold Valve legally liable for any alleged breaches of copyright and intellectual