Emulation can be legal, but Anbernic is in dangerous waters

All the industry of Retro Game Hand It depends on the fact that the emulation is in a legal gray area, but a popular manufacturer crossed the line with a recent firmware update. In a recent update of Anbernic’s hand, the company added a new application called Rixelhk, which allows users to search and download ROM of various systems.

In a video on the company’s YouTube channel, he showed how easy and convenient it was the application of use. The users quickly indicated the legal problems with the function, and after a few hours, the video was removed and the firmware scrubbing the official Anberic website. The YouTube channel Hyperplay RPG He managed to download the video before he retired.

It is worth noting that many of these devices have the option of sending with a microSD card with hundreds or even thousands of rom and pre -filled bios files. Okay, many users will eliminate those low quality ROM in favor of their own legal collection.

While Rom’s preload is certainly illegal, most IP owners have turned a blind eye to practice. Or, at least, a nuisance has not been enough to follow legal actions against Chinese companies. That has not been the case of ROM websites or emulators developers such as Tropic mistThe team behind Yuzu.

But this new practice clearly crosses a line. It puts the entire industry at risk of legal actions and goes far beyond what is considered acceptable, even in the world of emulation of the game adjacent to piracy. The idea that these devices are for the preservation of retro games in their head is turned, turning them into piracy machines.

To worsen things, the application is closed code and a Preliminary research By Portmaster Dev Jeodc revealed some serious privacy concerns. The application requires a lot of information about your network and device. Nor is it clear where the ROMs are housed, and the application indicates that they come from “Internet users or enthusiasts”, probably as a way of protecting themselves from legal problems.

In the end, Anbernic did the right thing, scrubbing the application of its website and social networks. The website that previously housed the application has also been eliminated, so we hope we can all leave this unpleasant business behind.