Support game developers, please don’t emulate Metroid Dread

Metroid Dread released this week and if you read our review, you already know it’s a must-play game on the Nintendo Switch. As it turns out, Nintendo’s console isn’t the only way to play this incredible game.

As some sites have pointed out, it’s possible to play Metroid Dread on PC via a Switch emulator. And in many cases, the game actually looks and plays better too.

Kotaku was trending on social media today after writing a whole article about it; but it was mostly for all the wrong reasons. Many interpreted Kotaku’s article as encouragement for gamers to go out and pirate the game. It should be noted that PC Gamer and a couple other websites also reported on Metroid Dread emulators, but it was this nugget in Kotaku’s article in particular that caught the attention of many:

Basically, when they ran their initial article, it seemed to encourage pirates, emulators and hackers without providing appropriate context. The general consensus among anyone with reasonable thought is that pirating games and stealing others work is bad; however, there is a caveat where if the game is really old and not easy to come by anymore (ie. a classic Nintendo Entertainment System game), then emulating is appropriate to help keep it alive and so that new gamers could still enjoy it. Many publishers, Nintendo and Sony especially, have a bad habit of failing to preserve their games.

The article has since been updated to clarify Kotaku’s stance on the subject of emulating and pirating — probably due to the massive backlash they faced and potential legal issues. It now reads:

"There are so many good reasons to be grateful for pirates, emulators, modders, and hackers for doing what so many big publishers won’t: keeping old games alive. Clearly, that’s not the case for Metroid Dread, a brand new game, but this is an enormous issue Nintendo has to face given the relative technical inferiority of its current console."

Good on Kotaku for acknowledging the possible misinterpretation of their original article and for attempting to correct. Now for anyone supporting the illegal pirating of new software, I’m here to tell you to please stop it.

Look, I get that games are expensive. Dropping $60, or even $70 these days, on a new release isn’t easy — especially in this economy. But you have to remember that video games are the direct result of the hard work of thousands. Those people deserve to be compensated for their work. And while we can, and should, definitely talk about the massive pay disparity within the industry, it doesn’t make it right for anyone to steal.

I’ve had debates with all sorts of people who have attempted to justify software pirating. One of the most common defenses is that people who pirate new games never had intention of actually buying them to begin with — as if that’s some sort of excuse. In no other industry would we, or should we, accept that. If you don’t intend on paying for someone’s work, you shouldn’t get to enjoy it. Simple as that.

If I have no intention of purchasing a car, that doesn’t mean I should just be allowed to steal it. If a new game is too expensive for your to purchase, then get a second job to help pay for luxury items or wait until it goes on sale. I know Nintendo games tend to hold their value, but sales do come.

And for those arguing that it’s okay because it’s as simple as “generating a digital code,” that’s not the point. You’re not paying for the cost of a disc. You’re paying for the cost of developing what’s on that disc. People have put hundreds of thousands of hours into making the game that you’re pirating. Pay them for that work.

So please, if you want more games like Metroid Dread, don’t steal.