PS2 emulator development halted after death threats

The sole developer behind AetherSX2, a PlayStation 2 emulator for Android, has announced that it will stop developing the app due to impersonation and the “never-ending” complaints, demands, and death threats online.

“AetherSX2 was always meant to be a fun hobby for me, not a profit-driven one. The developer said in Brief post on the AetherSX2 website Announcing the suspension of development. “Thank you to everyone who wasn’t ad*ck last year.”

Before that etherDamonPS2 is the only viable emulation option for people who want to play PS2 games on their Android devices. However, people in emulator circles I appreciate having AetherSX2 as an alternative Because DamonPS2, a closed-source for-profit app, has been accused of stealing source code by the team behind the free open-source PS2 emulator PCXS2 in a now-deleted post. You can watch through the Wayback Machine.

Leading to the developer’s decision to stop working on AetherSX2, the folks at r/EmulatiotnonAndroid subreddit He worried about the pressure the AetherSX2 developer had to deal with as he was inundated with demands from users. In a screenshotted Discord post, AetherSX2 developer, who goes by handle Tahlreth, explained why they disabled their Discord channel. According to the screenshot, “some imbecile” asked to make the emulator run on ioS.

“Congratulations guys, you have pushed and pushed another developer so much they are seriously considering going out for good,” Tahlreth wrote in the captioning Discord post.

Kotaku I’ve reached out to Tahlreth for comment.

According to the developer’s post on the AetherSX2 website, people can still download and use existing versions of AetherSX2 “for the foreseeable future.” As a bottom note, the developer has warned people to practice “good security rules” and not to install any Android package files from random corners of the internet.