Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@CaptainQuo I gotcha.

Entitlement comes with the fanfare of these consoles, to the point where it’s demanded that they have a show which meets their supposed needs for gaming. Weird given that they’re ultimately just trailer shows… it only indicates a marketing push of certain games at a given time. So if there isn’t a lot of first party content, or any at all, it’s not a bad sign of anything. shrug

I suppose we could play Devil’s Advocate and look at the Partner Directs from the og Switch era - they were quite bland. Seems people are thinking of those when something like a partner showcase is announced. I don’t think that, especially with how solid the last partner show was. Regardless, third party support will be a massive focus this year.

Nintendo is really good at showing things when they’re ready to be shared, so the first party stuff will come, but people need to accept that they’re trying to build third party relationships for support on their current gen system. It’s going to be a huge push for the S2’s second half year in.

@CaptainQuo The first party games are a far bigger draw than the third party games. There might be a few third party games people like, but in general what most people are buying from Nintendo is big tentpole first party games. The issue is that there are currently none announced so some people feel they have nothing to play in the near future.

I am definitely not hyped about anything currently announced. I generally don't like life sim games, so I'm not interested in AC, Tomodachi, or Pokopia. I don't like tactics games so I don't like Fire Emblem. I don't like Tennis so no Mario Tennis Fever. And no rhythm games either so no Rhythm Heaven Fever. Yoshi, Wonder S2E, and Splatoon Raiders are a maybe, I need to see more of those games to decide if I want them. And the genre that I tend to gravitate to, the big open air adventure games, are currently unrepresented. Raiders may be one of them, but it's a new spinoff series that we've seen too little of, we have no idea how it plays yet. Pokemon Gen 10 is expected to be announced on Pokemon Day (February 27th), but Pokemon has been iffy lately because Game Freak isn't being allowed enough dev time for the games to be top tier. So there's really nothing on the horizon I know I'll want.

As for my opinion on third parties, I do buy one once in a while, but usually not. They tend not to stand out to me. Many of them target popular genres and don't really do anything unique, so they tend to feel like a giant indistinguishable blur.

So yeah third party showing isn't going to do it for me, I'm probably not going to enjoy anything they show. I need Nintendo to show me better first party games, that requires a general. And I don't think I'm alone here, the Marios and the Zeldas and other big new first party games are what sells. And that's what everyone seems to be waiting for. Look at some of the discourse online surrounding the Switch 2's lineup. The complaints are around not having a big new game. People are wondering where's the next new 3D Mario game. They're wondering why AC is getting a Switch 2 Edition for NH instead of the next main entry. They're waiting for games like Luigi's Mansion 4, Smash 6, hell some of them are even wanting 3D Zelda right now even though they know it's not coming anytime soon. But instead Nintendo is just giving us S2Es, remakes/remasters, and niche IPs that few people are interested in. They don't have that big new game in an IP that a lot of Nintendo fans like. Hell, it's been so bad that even investors are commenting on it. That's why everyone is so upset and baffled about a potential Partner Showcase instead of a general. It feels like Switch 2 needs that next big thing ASAP and a Partner Showcase signals that that's not coming anytime soon. Partner Showcases usually mean no general for months (I've seen some people mention that there was one instance where we had a general a week after, but usually it means they don't have enough to announce and they're skipping the entire season), so the announcement of a Partner Showcase tends to be a "six more weeks of winter" sort of moment.

@Grumblevolcano
Hopefully this time the gap will be shorter. I am hyped to see what Nintendo has in store for this year including the Zelda 40th anniversary.

@Bolt_Strike
Whoosh

@CaptainQuo Many that own multiple consoles follow this. I only play 3D third party games on Xbox (sometimes PS).
The Switch is mainly for Mario, Zelda, Metriod, NSO.

@RobLife1 No reason they can't buy multiplatform games on Switch 2. I could buy most of them on PC, doesn't stop me choosing to buy the Switch/Switch 2 version.

@CaptainQuo Not just for those 2 games, but definitely for those caliber of experiences. More specifically I'm expecting the following:

3D Mario
3D Zelda
main series Pokemon (Gen 10, Gen 11, Legends games)
Luigi's Mansion 4
Metroid Prime (Prime 4 was not what I wanted, maybe they sneak in Prime 5 and that's more of a return to form)
2D Metroid
DK Bananza
maybe MKW
maybe something Splatoon (in this case it may be more likely that I get Raiders than Splatoon 4)
most likely a new Kirby game of some sorts
maybe a new 2D Mario or Mario Maker
maybe a new 2D Zelda

And again, the big new first party games are what sell. Look at the Switch's best sellers list. Most of the top games are big new original first party games. The highest selling third party game placed 25th ffs, there are 24 first party games that outsold every third party game (which is insane to think about, let that sink in). People are not buying Nintendo for third party games, at best they buy a few here and there on the side. They're buying them for big new first party games. The likes of 3D Mario, 3D Zelda, Pokemon, MKW, Smash 6, Splatoon 4, the next Animal Crossing game, those are the games that will define the Switch 2's success or failure. And that's not an insignificant amount of games, let's not act like this isn't a sufficient amount of games to justify a console purchase. But these types of games are largely nowhere to be seen, so of course people are complaining.

I think a huge part of this odd obsession with Big Giant Announcements, is basically a side effect of "Hype Culture" as marketing tool. It basically produced a large audience of people who aren't in it for the games, but the vicarious high of anticipating games. In effect its a parasocial relationship rather than a game fandom or hobby.

The annoying thing, from Nintendo's perspective, is that this is a problem largely produced by other companies. Nintendo has largely not favored super long marketing campaigns extending years before a game is released. With rare exceptions they prefer to announce games only shortly before launch, so that people getting hyped at the reveal can actually translate directly into sales. But just because its other publishers fault, doesn't prevent it from being Nintendo's problem.

I won’t poopoo over a Partner showcase, but I hope they try to make it a little more exciting. I feel like we see so much of the same kinds of games in them these days, maybe try to add a little more variety. like JRPGs and all(I’ve been playing P3R and FFVIIR for the last couple of weeks), but man they really dominate this directs, I just get tired of seeing them. Same with Rogue-likes, "quirky indie games" and farming sims. I still remember back in one of the earlier S1 directs where they had the double reveal of Doom and Wolfenstein and how exciting that was. How about bringing over The Dark Ages and show more Indiana Jones? How about MGSD or Silent Hill 2? More big day and date releases for games in the dark like Onimusha or Okami 2?

It's a rumour but the number of somewhat reliable sources confirming it has passed the threshold where most people just assume it's definitely happening. It would be funny if everyone was wrong; it's happened before.

Since Pokemon Pokopia is made by Koei Tecmo and Game Freak, I could see it appearing in the Partner Showcase.

Hopefully the Showcase is more new games rather than compromised ports of older releases, but I'm not holding my breath.

Is Pokopia really needed since it releases after Pokemon Day? It can get a mention in the Pokemon presentation.

I am absolutely expecting the other Game Freak game, Beast of Reincarnation, to show up though. It would be bizarre if that game wasn't coming to Switch 2.

@metaphysician I wouldn't let Nintendo off the hook entirely, they did string along fans for years with both TOTK (before we knew what the title was) and Metroid Prime 4 for example. This doesn't bother me on its own, but it does create the space for a marketing gap that grows the community you mentioned. What does bother me is that when this is done - and then a Direct is announced - the chatter runs endlessly about those games appearing. It's not a huge deal, and I can log off the internet for a bit if the gaming conversation is a bit much, but Nintendo has definitely been an arbitrator of this in the past.

That said, they've been much better the last few years with "Big Giant" reveals as you say, certainly better than Sony has been this gen. It was smart to show Intergalactic the way they did and when, but now we have to bear the rumour mill's mention of it every damn time a SoP is announced and it's coming out in 2 years at best. Nintendo has thankfully moved away from this approach, and I hope it stays that way.

Dang, poor @Bolt_Strike getting bullied out here for no reason. @rallydefault and @squiddu-real if you really don't like the way they try to predict Nintendo on the thread where people try to predict Nintendo, just hit the "ignore user" button and move on with your life.

So I've been thinking about something, if there is a direct next week (which we don't know 100%, I'm taking the rumors with a grain of salt as anyone should) what are the chances of it being a Indie World + Partner Showcase combo direct? I would like that a lot personally