They keep winning the cases themselves in courts very much rigged in their favor, sure, but for each headline, they risk alienating more gamers who don't appreciate them bullying comparatively tiny sites who are just providing games that Nintendo themselves refuse to sell.
Gamers are only capable of remembering these things right up until the next first-party exclusive and new console gets announced. Then, it's right back to opening their wallets for these fuckers.
The only way to truly win this fight is for the devs to face potentially life-ruining circumstances to fight it in court. Until then, Nintendo will continue harassing devs and killing the development progress of emulators.
Why are you being so obtuse? Yes, the repercussions for losing to Nintendo in court are life-ruining. I said that already.
However, continuing to let Nintendo DMCA legitimate emulation projects isn't good in the long-term either and only stalls progress for the targeted projects.
The only way to "win" this fight is to win in court. I'm not saying that any dev should be compelled against their will to do so. It's just the only way to actually make progress. This isn't a technical problem; it's a legal one.
Maybe some, maybe even most, but as a blanket statement, no.
I buy games and consoles but haven’t bought an Ubisoft or EA title in a decade. My own personal little boycott against bullshit required launchers may not matter, but I am consistent. I suspect others do the same as well and in aggregate, it might have an impact.
Them issuing C&D after C&D costs their legal team time and money they could be using to, idk, trademark new IPs or license third parties for libraries and music. It also hurts their PR.
They keep paying money for attorneys and court proceedings but don't get anything in return, since the code is out there and will just be shared again by someone else. Hence: whack-a-mole
A company like Nintendo definitely has a law firm on retainer. They're paying them whether or not they're being used. There's no waste of money happening by going after "IP violations."
A waste of time and energy, perhaps. But the lawyers are getting the same money whether they do this or nothing at all.