Robert Broglia’s Paid Emulators Pulled From Cydia; NES.emu, MD.emu, GBA.emu No Longer Available

Robert Broglia’s paid emulators have been pulled from Cydia by the developer following a dispute with PayPal. According to Broglia, PayPal shut down his account because the payment processor views selling emulators as paramount to profiting off copyright infringement. It’s sad to see PayPal clamping down on emulation, especially because the reverse-engineered emulators themselves are not considered copyright infringement–despite efforts from hardware manufacturers. Even loading the games themselves isn’t necessarily copyright infringement, as ripping the BIOS or ROMs from hardware you own (for personal use) is considered legal in the United States.

Robert Broglia‘s apps have been delisted from Cydia.

So which emulators have been affected? On Cydia, PCE.emu, NES.emu, GBC.emu, MD.emu, MSX.emu, NGP.emu, 2600.emu, NEO.emu, GBA.emu, and the iControlPad Update utility have all been pulled by Broglia. The only emulator from the developer that’s still on Cydia is Snes9x EX, which is available for free. It’s a shame that Broglia’s emulators are no longer available, especially since these emulators were all recently updated for iOS 6 support.

While the emulators are no longer for sale, Robert Broglia wrote that this isn’t going to be the permanent state of his apps. According to the developer, the sales will return using Amazon’s Checkout service instead of PayPal, though there is no word on how long this will take.

For Android users, there is no change. All the emulator apps are still available for purchase in the Google Play Store, as normal.

Broglia‘s emulators cover a wide variety of hardware, include features like WiiMote and iControlPad support, and still receive frequent updates. Hopefully the situation with PayPal gets sorted out soon.

What do you think of PayPal’s decision to lock Robert Broglia’s account? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.