Topic: Should Nintendo change its announcement policy?

So for a while now Nintendo has had this policy of announcing only the games that are a few months away from release, presumably after having to constantly disappoint the fans by delaying games for years (looking at you, Zelda). I don't really see this as an issue because these days Nintendo does not delay games until they're perfect, they shove them out the door when they are needed. The days of Ocarina of Time style development are long gone.

On top of this, we have a rather tiresome cycle of silence and rumours and waiting, for months at a time, between Directs. Hype builds up predictably before each one, with equally predictable disappointment when they inevitably fail to deliver any megaton announcements. Nintendo are really shooting themselves in the foot with this policy. Obviously if you keep schtum for most of the year, people are going to expect the thing you are keeping schtum about to be something special. Did we really need a giant cloak of secrecy surrounding the contents of the last Direct? There was nothing Earth shattering announced.

Even if agree with Nintendo's reasons for this policy, it doesn't change the fact that nobody else announces their upcoming games in this way. We're all used to having at least a general picture of what the next year or two will look like for the system we support. Rationally, we expect that Nintendo has more up its sleeve for the near future than what we have been told about, but, emotionally, we feel abandoned with no big hitters on the horizon. Worse yet, we feel like we're being treated like children who can't be trusted, like we're being held at arm's length until Nintendo sees fit to dole out another pellet of information.

Should Nintendo go back to the way it used to be (and currently still is for everybody BUT Nintendo)? Personally, I'm more annoyed at Nintendo's ridiculous attitude of secrecy than simply not knowing about some games. These aren't North Korean state secrets for Christ's sake. It's just some video games.

is my entire response to this

I agree, Nintendo should be a bit more open with their announcements. I am confident that 2018 will be another great year for Switch, but at the moment it does look a little bare-bones from a first-party perspective. Third parties and indies, of course, will make up for that and i'm sure there's a big first-party game to be announced soon anyway. But I'm digressing XD
Personally, what I would like to see is a Nintendo Direct Mini every month or so. The January Direct was honestly a little disappointing given the huge amount of hype going into it, but if Directs of that size with similar amounts of content (new announcements, updates for existing/announced games, etc) became a monthly event, that would be ideal. We would know that every month we'll get an update on the most exciting upcoming games, and there would be far less absurd 'leaks,' rumors, and unnecessary hype going into these Directs.

So what you‘re saying is we should do it like the lemmings and jump off a bridge if everyone else does it? Hey, everybody, wait for me!

Seriously, though, I don‘t see why Nintendo can‘t do things like they wanna do and should do it like everyone else. Personally, I can get more excited for something that I know is only a few months away as opposed to Spider-Man or Last of Us 2 that may or may not come this year or the next. I think the excitement for a game can be much better be carried from reveal to release with only a few months inbetween. Sure, I‘ll get excited for Spidey when that gets closer but the excitement for it will have to be rekindled again and again and you might lose the interest of people from that. It simply stays much easier in the public‘s consciousness with just a few months until release.

Also, mind you that wild speculation and guess-work are what hype up Directs to such an amount they couldn‘t deliver. Sure, Nintendo was in on the whole hype train this time but what‘s the purpose of hype? To get butts into the seats. And to have them watch the Direct and look at the games for next few months. Sorry if you were burned by the hype into cookie but has Nintendo ever promised you E3 level announcements? A GTAV port? A Metroid trailer? A Pokemon trailer? No, and thus they do not own them to you nor anyone of us.

As I said, the extreme secrecy at all times other than the Directs is inevitably going to make people think a big announcement is due. If the announcement is not megaton, why in God's name is such secrecy required? Why do we need all the fanfare of a direct just to announce some DLC? Even if it's unreasonable for people to think like this, Nintendo now knows that this is exactly how people think, and they should adjust their policies accordingly. I'm not saying lemmings should be encouraged to jump off cliffs. I'm saying that if you know lemmings are jumping off cliffs regardless, its common sense to put a little safety net down there for them.

It's not Nintendo's job to curb expectations that fans themselves make.

That's what killing their E3 stage show was for. :V

Yes it is. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it is.
Imagine a crowd of idiots is stampeding down a busy street because they think a flying spaghetti monster is chasing them. One bloke wants to walk up the street, and should be able to, seeing as how there is no such thing as a flying spaghetti monster. He is in the right, but he is still going to be crushed into jam if he walks blindly up the street trying to ignore the stampede.

This is the most ridiculous attempt at an analogy i have ever seen in my entire life.

So downplay your spring lineup just so some people can‘t be disappointed? Doesn‘t sound like a very good business strategy to me. 'Oh, hey guys, today, we‘ve only got a few WiiU ports to show off. Oh, and Kirby is coming in March. But who cares about Kirby, right? Oh, and a new Mario Tennis ... meh. Anyway, we hope you‘ll buy some of those - but we don‘t care whether you do or not. It‘s not like we‘re a company trying to make money, right?' No company in the world is gonna advertise their products like that.
Like you said, Nintendo knows exactly how we react when we just think we‘ll get a Direct soon. Hype, hype, hype. And like I said previously, this hype gets people to watch the Direct and make them aware of the spring lineup. Awareness is the first step to interest in the product, which in return is the first step to a purchase. Effective social media marketing at its finest.

Of course, you can be disappointed in a Direct. You have every right to be. But mind you, Nintendo never promised anything specific, that they‘d show off a new SMB, Metroid Prime 4, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing and so on. These hopes or, worse, expectations are all fostered by the speculations, rumors and hype community. To be frank, believing in them is your own fault, not Nintendo‘s or their announcement policy.

Luckily for me my point essentially stands unchallenged unless you have some reasoning for that statement.

That ... was an analogy? I couldn‘t even tell. :/

Announcing FF7 remake! from 2015 release date...Umm
Announcing Spider-Man release date.. This year?
Announcing shemue 3 from 2015 release date...Umm...

You don't mind having games being announced with a release date possibly stretching to the next decade?

Edit: if we're doing this way of announcement. 2 years ago. A new F-zero is announced! when? Idk look at this trailer!

No release date.. 3 years later possibly released to the next console generation if not canned all together..Cue disappointment.

A double edged sword. Can get hype but ya have-ta follow through.

I don't mind that at all, so long as they are always honest and provide regular updates. Most people are happy for a game to be delayed if it means it will eventually be good, and they like to follow the progress of a project they are passionate about. This might explain the success of Kickstarter. People don't necessarily get pissed about delays, rather about the complete silence during delays.

Ocarina of Time was delayed many times. We all enjoyed seeing the new screenshots and progress in magazines every month, and we certainly appreciated what a masterpiece it became. Would we all have been happier if we'd known nothing about it, and instead it just popped out of thin air two months after being announced? I don't think so.

Emotionally we feel abandoned? Man, lay off the video games and get some perspective on life.

5 weeks in to the year:

Switch - a Mini Direct showing off a selection of previously unannounced games (of various genres)

PS4/XB1 -

...not a slight on the PS4/XB1 - we just don't traditionally tend to see too many announcements (for any console) in January, so it's no surprise that news has been a little light on the ground - compared to other platforms, we're actually pretty lucky to have seen as much as we have!

I actually thought it was pretty remarkable how Nintendo managed to have a huge console launch presentation at the start of 2017 - then still have plenty up their sleeves for some mouthwatering Directs - and still had plenty up their sleeves for an amazing E3 - and still had plenty of post-E3 surprises up their sleeves to keep the hype building and building right through to Christmas! ..I think that their PR is top notch and see no need to change it - really looking forward to what's to come!

Heh, back when mags are still a thing.

Kickstarter games I've seen tho (successful as they are)had spells of radio silence, sometimes the devs respond with the silence with the lines of "woah it's been a long time huh? Don't worry were still working on it!" And then back to radio silence.. 9 times out of 10 they'll repeat that and get canned. Check Larry bundy JR.'s Kickstarter scams on YouTube for a few examples.

Good argument with the update tho. The smash bros updates from brawl and 4 are the better examples of a update. They update every weekday (well almost).
The thing is that they had a consistent release schedule with a tentative release date. I'm not sure other games have this luxury. (Pardon my inexperience with game mags. I'm an unfortunate soul who nary had a gaming mag in my childhood.

@GrailUK
Wow, imagine people on a forum on a website called NINTENDO LIFE having an emotional investment in Nintendo games. What a crazy world.

To be honest, both sides have their advantages and disadvantages...

But to be honest, I'd rather it have concrete release date than the constant delays. Heck, do any of you even see how delays are reacted to be in the comments even if it's for polishing? Wowee, it's an explosions, usually the bad kind too, not the good kind.

You can see sprinkling of good yes, but most of them? BAD.

[Also RIP Scalebound that got announced and yet, cancelled. Wish I never knew it so I won't feel sad to know it's cancelled]

@NaviAndMii

I don't need a January update about the PS4 though because I already know about games I'm interested in that might come out this year from LAST E3.

To be clear, I'm not complaining about a lack of games this year (they could release nothing and I'd still have stuff to keep me occupied until next year), I'm just complaining about being kept in the dark about everything for no good reason. This is typical of Japanese companies where the corporate culture makes them look like the Stasi. I realise it's a big industry with lots of money at stake but Jesus Christ. Even Disney is less secretive about Star Wars and the MCU and stuff.

Considering that i had no idea back then that there was a new Zelda game coming out until i went to the store and saw it on the shelf, yes, i was perfectly happy.

Honestly, all we really need is maybe an announcement that something is being worked on, then an eventual announcement of a release date, accompanied by some promotional material (screenshots, trailers or whatever).

Constant updates is just unnecessary gravy that people seem to feel entitled to because we now live in this "constant information at your fingertips about everything all the time" age.