Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@jump same. Now I just hope if there IS a direct this month, nothing worthwhile gets shadow dropped. I don't see myself finishing zelda anytime soon.

I'm not so convinced. These are very low tier items to be using as your surprise reveals in a Direct. If they have stuff for the tail end of the year then there's plenty of space for a pre-August Direct

With that said, I'm not really expecting a massive E3 of past years tier June Direct. I do think that we're firmly in the tail end of the generation and this kind of stuff is pretty much what we can kinda expect. But I also don't think that any of this stuff "deconfirms" a Direct in June

My gut feeling is that late June we see a very mid-tier Direct outlining content for the tail end of this year. Heavily leaning on trailers for stuff we already know about and stuff for NSO. Nothing particularly forward looking, nothing game changing for Switch. Just stuff for existing Switch owners to go "oh, yeah, I guess that looks alright"

It all comes down to the way wave 5 is announced. If wave 5 announcement is just a standalone trailer then it's a safe assumption there's no general Direct until September.

I'm assuming Nintendo will just have a mini-direct/partner showcase in June like they did last year. We 'know' there will be some type of Mario announcement this year, but I could imagine them waiting to not distract from people continuing to buy Zelda.

This year has had big releases of the top two Nintendo franchises (I'm counting the movie) as well as some Kirby, Fire Emblem, Metroid, Bayonetta, continued Mario Kart, NSO stuff, etc. So it wouldn't shock me if the immediate future is light on exciting exclusives. Hence the shadow drop of a less exciting exclusive...

I personally think it's a September Direct but we'll get some communcation on Switch 12 and Pikmin 4. After Pikmin 4, I reckon (assuming they release a game a month) there will be a couple more low key titles /ports, one last big holiday game (where Zelda and Mario do most of the heavy lifting for shifting 15M units this year.) Then the start of next year, Metroid Prime 4 and Windwaker / Twighlight Princess - taking us nicely to Switch 2 reveal. A schedule like this would give Nintendo room to develop for the next system (otherwise, how do they find enough hours in the day??) Price drop* the og Switch and let that slowly glide towards beating the DS lifetime sales with a couple more titles while we wait for launch day (it's not like it's not still going to be on the market for a couple of years after the Switch 2 launch lol.).

Sorted (lol - like I know what I'm talking about!)

*that's the headache. It in no way shape or form needs one yet! Bonkers.

@GrailUK Price drop when though? Furukawa is on record during the last investor Q&A saying that there won't be a price drop this fiscal year (ending March 2024). So not this holiday season. Maybe September next year?

@Magician I'm sure only Nintendo have the figure for alarm bells. The sales graphs of hardware differ from most other consumerables because there is scope for different ways of prolonging a lifecycle besides a price drop. Case in point, this year, what with the Mario Movie and Zelda, the Switch is outselling the PS5 again. It's clear the Switch isn't in decline (not to be confused with simply lower sales) but possibly at the end of it's maturity. Switch 1-2 repositions the console again, potentially finding a new audience (and they are keeping their costs down promoting it - so if it swings and misses then it's no biggy.). They know what they are doing. I think the headache will be that they will want their next console priced around the ball park of when the Switch launched (adjusting for inflation and current climate) which would make more sense to hit if your older model is cheaper. I dunno, I'm glad I'm not the CEO. That fella will earn his money if they can keep the Switch brand this successful lol. Very easy to be a victim of your own success (like PS3 and XBox1)

(Very sorry for the wall of text.)

@Grumblevolcano The leaks about the game, which have proven to be accurate so far, said that it playtested horribly and that Nintendo wasn't sure what to do with it because they were concerned it would damage their reputation as a great software developer.

Them announcing it without a trailer or even screenshots suggests that it's true and they just want to release it and be done with it.

@Professor_Plumber Me too honestly. Wouldn't be the first time they've not released a finished game (Star Fox 2 anyone?), so not releasing a game that's apparently really bad wouldn't have been that surprising.

But I guess they're looking for ways to fill the release schedule, and putting that in June when there's heavy hitters releasing on other platforms and most Switch owners are still busy with Zelda is probably the best option.

@Professor_Plumber There was a 2nd day of Treehouse Live which covered a bunch of other stuff:

Adding onto the seemingly endless pile of studio showcases from everyone but Nintendo, a Capcom Showcase just got announced (seemingly by accident) for the 12th!

The dream is for the AA 3DS games to get a trilogy bungle and an AA7 tease.

That'll be sweet. Xbox Sunday, capcom Monday.

@Fizza showcasing 36 minutes of Street Fighter 6 gameplay.

With that NSO drop I've changed my position somewhat. I don't think we're getting a Direct this month at all. That NSO drop is just too good for them to just drop it like that if there was a Direct imminent

I bet there will be more Switch related stuff at Capcom's showcase than at Ubisoft's, which is earlier that same day.

@skywake I don't think the NSO drop means anything given the NSO announcements in previous Directs were all big stuff. NES (September 2018 Direct), SNES (September 2019 Direct), N64 + Genesis (September 2021 Direct), Earthbound Beginnings + Earthbound (February 2022 Direct), N64 wave 2 featuring Goldeneye (September 2022 Direct), GB/GBC/GBA (February 2023 Direct).

A NSO drop in the next Direct would've needed something like a new console added, Smash 64, more Rare games or Mother 3 to be in the Direct rather than a shadow drop trailer.

@Grumblevolcano
While not Goldeneye or entirely new platform tier I do think that Harvest Moon and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble are significant enough they would've been in the Direct if it was soon. Harvest Moon for being a fairly significant NSO release in its own right, Kirby for being a game that has an entirely different control scheme

If there was a Direct next week or something.... would've made sense to hold onto that one

@skywake Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble was already announced in the February Direct so we already knew it was coming and NSO presence in Directs have always been new announcements. Meanwhile Harvest Moon has this odd situation where the September 2022 Direct announced Harvest Moon 64 for Japan only.

@Professor_Plumber I think E3 2015 was very much a case of spreading announcements out too thin and a few bad timing announcements (e.g. people would've likely been more positive about Federation Force if they knew stuff like Samus Returns was incoming). There were announcements in a June 1st Nintendo Direct Micro, a June 14th Smash Direct, the Nintendo World Championships which were also on June 14th and a few announcements appeared in the Treehouse Live streams after the main E3 Direct.

....yeah we might be having a Twitter Direct this time round guys XD