Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@FragRed I feel like I already have one of those...

@GrailUK Yeah but the one you have actually requires you to buy games. This new one doesn’t have any games on it. It just takes all your money, and creates infinite debts for you to never be able to repay.

@FragRed Ooooh. Clever. What will they think of next!?

@GrailUK World domination. It’s only logical

@FragRed On the one hand, I'm grateful the rumours might calm down a bit. But them on the other hand, I'm not looking forward to the 'I'm so nervous about <insert game>' or 'Nintendo are worried about the next system' type articles I'm sure will come. Are you suffering anxiety over video games? Let us know in the comments below.

@GrailUK It’s a Nintendo thing to feel anxious about how well they do at releasing new hardware. It just comes with the territory, which doesn’t happen with Sony or Microsoft so much.

@FragRed Yeah, I guess you are right.

I don't think there will ever be a Switch pro. The ancient sheikah technology Nintendo uses for the Switch means the costs of production are lower than they would be for a pro model, so why would they sell a more expensive machine with lower margins over the more profitable OG switch. That said, Nintendo can see Switch sales are starting to slow, so they're probably thinking about the Switch 2. They're not going to sit through 2024 with anaemic sales numbers, so I think reports of Nintendo focusing on new switch and no pro (probably for 2024) are credible.

I kind of wish the talk about the "Switch Pro" or "Switch 2" could be contained to the thread for that system specifically. This is the Nintendo direct thread, so it should probably pertain to the discussions of directs.

Edit (Added stuff): There's a reason why I don't go into the Switch Pro thread generally, because those sorts of rumors make me want to hit my head against my desk. It's full of sketchy rumors which could be guessed or said by anyone, but because "Credible leaker" who got some stuff right years and years ago said it, it must be true! People generally ignore said leakers being wrong most of the time, and ignore when the predictions from them end up being false, since they want to justify their own desire for shilling out 600 bucks for the next big console, as they grew tired of their trinket which they got a few years back.

@VoidofLight Secondededed.

I feel it's relevant, if there's more powerful hardware launching with TotK then the next general Direct has to be sooner rather than later (i.e. early February at the latest) given it would cover the launch window for the more powerful hardware (there'd be 3rd party games that only run on the more powerful hardware). But if it's just a Zelda themed OLED launching with TotK, the next general Direct could be a fair amount later like the week after Bayonetta Origins launches given what we already know about the 1st half of 2023.

@Grumblevolcano I think it's safe to cross off new hardware in 2023 Grumble.

@Grumblevolcano Even if Nintendo isn’t releasing new hardware, we only know of the first party games. There’s still going to be a fair amount of third party games that could be announced and Nintendo doing a Direct in February would be a good time to promote them.

Well to be fair the shortest leadup to a new Switch variant was two months with the Switch Lite. Announced July 2019, released September 2019. So it's possible we could get hardware news with February's annual Direct.

But I highly doubt it.

@Magician They don’t need that big a gap between reveal and launch. The Switch was revealed in October and launched at the beginning of March. They only ever spoke about it as the NX before then. If a Switch successor is a hybrid but just a proper power jump, they could still feasibly reveal and release in a short timespan.

The big issue I have with a 2023 release is the lack of anything suggesting it’s actually being manufactured, which it would almost certainly be if it were to launch anytime soon.

@Grumblevolcano
Nintendo's spring Directs have aired in early February in 2019, 2021, and 2022. It doesn't take a prophet to predict that the next general Nintendo Direct will happen in early Feb 2023 regardless of whether new hardware launches with Tears of the Kingdom or not.

@FragRed Yeah, the Switch Lite outer shell had leaked images from April 2019 before it's announcement later in July 2019. Yet we haven't heard a peep about Switch Pro yet. If there was new hardware intended for early 2023 we would've heard of it already.

https://nintendosoup.com/this-nintendo-switch-lite-leak-from-...

@Magician You can’t stop leaks on new hardware in the age of the internet. And anything Nintendo does is going to be huge news, so leaks are even more prone to happen. Heck we saw the dev kit for the PS5 months before we saw the console itself.

@FragRed We know a lot of 3rd party games for early on in the year as well, May is where it really dries up for 3rd party but given retail releases only need 2 months notice for the most part a March Direct could fix that.

@westman98 We know more about precise timing for the upcoming 1st party lineup than normal:

• Fire Emblem Engage - January 20th
• Kirby Return to Dream Land Deluxe - February 24th
• Bayonetta Origins - March 17th
• Tears of the Kingdom - May 12th

There is the April 1st party gap though given TPC does their own thing, it could be something like Detective Pikachu appearing in a Pokemon Presents.

@Grumblevolcano
What's your implication here? That because we know the exact release dates of four 2023 Nintendo games in 2022, so therefore new Switch hardware is imminent?