It was revealed earlier in the week that an emulator for the Nintendo Entertainment System had been given the greenlight for release on the Xbox One App Store.
This was a surprise to many, as it meant Xbox One users would essentially be able to transform their console into a modern day NES. Emulators themselves aren’t illegal, it is the ROMs they generally come hand in hand with that are as they breach copyright law. It’s clear Microsoft didn’t want to risk opening themselves up to any kind of lawsuit, so they killed the project at the last moment.
The developer of the app took to Twitter to deliver the news, however the silver lining for fans of the project is that it’s still available to download on the Windows Store for Desktop, Windows Phone and even HoloLens. Rules for PC have always been more lenient, and given the number of Emulators and ROMs all over the Internet, it wouldn’t be worth Nintendo’s time trying to take action against them all.
Not that they took action here either. It seems Microsoft wanted to be ahead of the game with this one, citing that the Emulator fell into the games category rather than apps as the reason for its takedown:
“Apps that are targeted to Xbox One and are primarily gaming experiences must be approved through the ID@Xbox Program.”
Ultimately I doubt this is going to cause too much grief. Emulators and ROMs aren’t exactly difficult to get a hold of online, but it’s clear many people were looking forward to the convenience of having one available on the Xbox One. Still, this was highly unlikely to ever last long. Had it not held the ‘NES’ name in the title however, who knows, it might’ve actually made it on to the store.
If you’re looking to get your hands on some NES games legitimately however, I suggest you take a look at this advert for the upcoming ‘NES Classic Edition’.
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