I heard once that Nintendo has enough cash in the bank to operate for the better part of a century without turning a profit. No clue if it’s true, but if it is there may not be much valve (or anyone else) could do to make them nervous. Nintendo seems petty and stubborn enough to operate at a loss for a long time if it means they can keep running things as they like.

It doesn’t. Encryption keys are not code and are not copyrightable. Distributing them is also not illegal. The word “proprietary” here is meaningless at best and dishonest at worst.

Of course actually using that key to circumvent drm may be illegal, but I’m no lawyer. Send like that would be on Dolphin’s users anyway.

Food for thought: if Nintendo genuinely thought they had a good legal argument against Dolphin, why wouldn’t they just send them a cease and desist directly instead of just getting them kicked off Steam?