Valve under fire after showing Nintendo Switch emulator in Steam Deck video

The Steam Deck has been a huge hit, with over 1 million units sold back in August. But the Steam Deck has recently come under fire for showing people using a Nintendo Switch emulator called Yuzu in a recent YouTube video.

The three-minute YouTube video included a split-second moment where some gamers noticed the Yuzu logo on the Steam Deck home screen. When one Twitter user spotted it, the tweet blew up, causing the video to be taken down and replaced with a nearly identical video minus the Yuzu logo.

Why did Valve remove the Yuzu logo from the Steam Deck video?

Video game emulation has long been controversial in the gaming world, especially with Nintendo. As far back as 2018, Nintendo announced its new stance on emulators, allowing Nintendo games to be played on a PC.

“The introduction of emulators created to play illegally copied Nintendo software represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers,” Nintendo stated. “As is the case with any business or industry, when its products become available for free, the revenue stream supporting that industry is threatened. Such emulators have the potential to significantly damage a worldwide entertainment software industry which generates over $15 billion annually, and tens of thousands of jobs.”

Nintendo fans have often argued back against Nintendo, wondering how using emulators to play classic Mario games would impact any sales for the company since those are no longer purchased directly from Nintendo. So seeing the Steam Deck promote Yuzu was a huge hit for the gaming community, with many replying that they would be using the Steam Deck to emulate the Nintendo Switch.

Yuzu is an emulator that allows gamers to play Nintendo Switch games on devices that aren’t the Switch. This usually means PCs, but the Steam Deck is basically a portable PC, making it another option for Yuzu users. Emulated Switch games can either be pirated illegally or purchased and put onto a ROM.

While promoting Yuzu was a controversial move on Valve’s part, the Steam Deck is already known for its emulation capabilities. People have been using the portable PC to play games from the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.

It’s currently unknown if Nintendo caught wind of the Yuzu logo in the trailer or if Valve reacted based on Twitter chatter alone. Neither company has made a statement regarding the Yuzu logo just yet.