Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

Tomorrow a new week begins and looking out for a Direct announcement starts anew.

Here's hoping we get one soon
People have been speculating that a potential announcement has been delayed due to the Coronavirus; if this were the case I would have thought Nintendo would have made us aware of this by now, similarly to what they did with the earthquake that happened a while back

Directs are pre-recorded. but I would have thought they would release a statement regarding if it was delayed for the notice of consumers/ shareholders

Thoughts?

@Josieppe The difference between then and now is that that direct was delayed after it had already been announced. If it was delayed now, there's no reason for them to let us know it was.

EDIT: That said, I still believe it was and is scheduled for April 1st 2020.

@link3710 Ahh yeah, true
People are hoping it'll be on the 3rd anniversary on Tuesday

@Josieppe MAR10 is also a possibility

My feeling is, that Nintendo will not do a general Direct in the two weeks before or after the release of Animal Crossing. I think they don't want to distract people from their new big title. So my guess is that we'll either see a Direct this week or in April.

I've got one word for you all: Coronavirus.

That was my feeling too. That's why I really thought it'd be late Feb. They're not gonna want it too near to Animal Crossing launch because it might make people forget about that if the Direct contains more impressive stuff. So I'm guessing either this week or at least a week after AC launch.

It'd be awesome if it was this week. FF7 remake demo just came out on PS4, so it would be the ultimate hype week if you added a beefy Direct to that too.

@Dezzy
Isn't Animal Crossing a big deal though? I personally don't care for the series and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. However it's still a huge title and one fans have been waiting for. So the question is what could they possibly announce that would take away from AC?

@GameOtaku

Yes, it's a big deal, especially in terms of sales figures. But if they had a Direct a week before the AC release date and they showed off new trailers for Xenoblade, Bayonetta 3 and Breath of the Wild 2, then people would be talking about those for the whole week, which might hog attention from AC.

Even though Bayonetta and Xenoblade will definitely sell less than AC, it'd be new material and that's what gets people talking. So that's why I'm thinking they'd want any big announcements to be at least 2 weeks before the AC release, or just wait until after it.

@Grumblevolcano its only year three bud

@Kachow1116 Year 4 starts tomorrow.

Year 1 - March 3rd 2017 - March 2nd 2018
Year 2 - March 3rd 2018 - March 2nd 2019
Year 3 - March 3rd 2019 - March 2nd 2020
Year 4 - March 3rd 2020 - March 2nd 2021

And so far for year 4 we only have Mystery Dungeon and Animal Crossing with actual release dates on the 1st party front.

@Grumblevolcano based on your own evidence, I'm still correct for a day XD

@Harmonie I bet this is all Coronavirus related. The whole gaming industry isn't making many announcements at the moment.

Nintendo has to proceed with Animal Crossing because they have already announced it. Also, the boats from China to the West take around four to six weeks to arrive - so those with Animal Crossing games and Switch themed additions produced in late January up to mid-February have already been shipped across. As the impact of the virus is only now being felt, I suspect production from March onwards will then be affected.

However, it makes sense for Nintendo to delay further announcements until the current situation has abated. Who knows - it may mean they can pack out the rest of the year even more.

@Yoshi87 What happens though if the coronavirus doesn’t subside before E3? They can’t hold off announcements forever.

@FragRed Something of this potential magnitude is pretty unprecedented in 40 years of the gaming industry. If it is the virus that's contributing to the lack of news, then there must be some pretty heavy umming and ahhing going on as they work out what kind of impacts this could have on production, logistics, demand, marketing. Right now I wouldn't rule anything out.

@FragRed While coronavirus may push things back further, I don't think the lack of Nintendo 2020 info in general is specifically to do with coronavirus. Nintendo's announcements were off even before then, the September Direct only got these new announcements on the 1st party front:

• Super Kirby Clash (shadow drop)
• Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (January 17th)
• Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (2020)

You also have the poor showing at the Game Awards, just MUA3 DLC and Bravely Default II.

So everything considered, Nintendo was probably already planning on staying quiet on new stuff until March/April anyway even if coronavirus didn't exist.

@Grumblevolcano That's where I'm at. At this point, I think it's just Nintendo keeping us on our toes than anything to do with the virus

Surely they have alternative places they can manufacture game cartridges other than China?

@Dezzy Considering they're getting them so cheaply by using forced labor camps, probably not.