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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Is playing Zelda Breath of the Wild on PC legal?

StarOcean said:
I always hear people say, "As long as you own the original version, it's legal." But is that truly the case?

it is in the Netherlands aslong as it is kept within the household



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StarOcean said:
I always hear people say, "As long as you own the original version, it's legal." But is that truly the case?

You're permitted to make a copy of your own software, but cannot distribute it. Thus, if you know how to make said copy you can then use it with any built-from-the-ground-up emulators that did not utilize any of the original hardware's source code.

Merely owning the original version doesn't actually make it legal; rather, you have to utilize that specific copy's ROM. For instance, owning a game but then downloading someone else's ROM of it to play on an emulator is still illegal.

While I'm sure it varies, this seems fairly consistent in most western countries.

It's a little hard to think of a comparison... Basically, it's akin to owning some album on CD. Just because you have that phsyical copy of a song, it does not then make it OK to go online and download the song from some other source. It's fine, however, to load it onto your PC from the CD, make a copy of it, and play it there. The comparison is a little flawed, but that's essentially how it works.



roadkillers said:
Ganoncrotch said:

You're likely playing a download of the Wii-U software? Which you have no license to.

Think about it like this, if you have an old VHS of a movie is it legal to download a 4k blu ray rip of it?

Wouldn't, in my case, I have the 4K blu-ray copy trying to get the old VHS? Since the Switch is a better quality?

Is it legal to torrent a digital copy when you have the movie on 4K blu-ray?

Morally it's fine, however you are condoning piracy by illegally downloading somebody else's copy. Monkey see, monkey do, however monkey 2 might not own a copy too.




If you own a copy of the game, I don't see why you can't or shouldn't play it on the best platform for it.



If you own the game, it's legal. If not, then it's illegal.



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roadkillers said:

What if I own a copy of the Switch game?

roadkillers, you own a copy of the game so please, PLEASE feel free to play the game on PC and mod the f*** out of it.

Enjoy it my friend and even donate to good modders. Modding games is a beautiful thing.



I don't think so!



Nope. The game isn't licensed to be on pc.



Normally I’d say go for it if you own the game, but... This is Nintendo. They’d probably hit you with a cease and desist because that’s how anal they are usually.



roadkillers said:
That's upsetting. Alright guess I'll just play the outdated Legend of Zelda.

Why?  There is exactly zero chance of you getting in any trouble for it.  If you don't see it as ethically wrong, why would you not play it?  

As for my opinion on the OP - its illegal in most places, but enforced in none of them.  There is no realistic way to enforce the law.  Ethically, I see no problem, especially when you consider that it's a Nintendo game.  They'll do everything they can to have you buy the same game 5 times over a couple of decades.  So, its only right that consumers try to avoid buying their games over and over again.