In response, Nintendo’s lawyers issued a statement to Valve, requesting that the emulator’s “coming soon” notice be removed and that the emulator should not be released on Steam without Nintendo’s approval. Rather than intervening, Valve chose not to take a stand in a potential confrontation with Nintendo, one of the gaming industry’s behemoths. Instead, Valve placed the responsibility on Dolphin’s developers to obtain Nintendo’s approval before proceeding with the Steam release.
Knowing that Nintendo has historically taken swift legal action against emulation-related projects, the Dolphin team understood that obtaining permission was highly unlikely. Given the legal reality and the wording of Nintendo’s letter to Valve, the developers made the decision to cancel the Steam release to avoid potential complications.
