Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Grumblevolcano true. If a zelda remaster gets announced in september, it'll be close to 2020s announcement style.

@Grumblevolcano maybe yes or maybe not.

@westman98 We haven't had Indie World yet, there's usually one in August but this year it looks to be later much like how we got one in May instead of March. I'm leaning towards mid-September Indie World, late September Partner Showcase and early October Bayonetta 3 Direct.

There are still a couple of days left in August.
They might do an Indie World on August 30th or 31st.

@Grumblevolcano I find it difficult to believe that Nintendo would go into the fall/holiday season with their 2023 lineup being a complete mystery outside of Zelda supposedly being a Spring title.

That time last year we knew about Pokemon Legends Arceus, Triangle Strategy, and Kirby for Q1 with Splatoon 3 and Bayonetta 3 having 2022 release periods.

@IceClimbers Nintendo could use TGA 2022 or the first Nintendo Direct of 2023 to anounce it 2023 line up.

I'm cool if Nintendo don't broadcast a main Direct until February.

Currently I don't really need Nintendo Direct at the moment as I got the upcoming games information from play-asia and other direct (Wholesome Direct, Gamescom, etc)

@IceClimbers Different years had different setups for example before the February 2021 general Direct the only 2021 games we knew about were 3D World and a bunch of 3rd party titles like Bravely Default II and MH Rise. Similar secrecy was present prior to the January 2018 Direct Mini about the 2018 lineup and even then Bayonetta 1+2 was a Game Awards reveal.

It all comes down to hardware I think. If Nintendo wants to fully reveal hardware in September, there will very likely be a gigantic general Direct but if they want to do it in January like they did with the original Switch (or if there's no hardware) they could end up having Advance Wars, Detective Pikachu or a 3rd party exclusive get a release window of early 2023.

I think the maintenance suggests 2022 for Advance Wars but then again, nothing came of those Goldeneye Xbox rumours and both are likely held up for the exact same reason.

@Giancarlothomaz
Nintendo hasn't really participated at the TGAs in any meaningful way in quite a while. Basically just Smash Bros DLC character announcements (which is now over) + some smaller 3rd party exclusives like MUA3 and Bravely Default 2.

Right now they are going into 2023 with a whopping one title, BOTW2, which is admittedly a massive game but hardly enough to carry an entire year (or even just the first half of the year).

They have to say something about BotW2 or announce another delay soon. They can't just cut it close to release telling us nothing about what the game is like. They're going to need to give it a strong marketing push over 6+ months if they really want it to sell. Regardless of whether or not there's going to be a full Direct, we at the very least need a Zelda Direct to give us an E3 2016-esque blowout on the game.

I get the feeling that the marketing machine will be 'full-steam-Pokemon' until Scarlet/Violet release in November. (Maybe also some Bayonetta push in this timeframe)

I don't think Switch has any high-profile releases in December? So maybe they fill the year-end gap with some BOTW2 hype? Once Pokemon drops, I imagine they might need another area of focus

@Bolt_Strike I agree that it should get a strong marketing push, but it's Zelda and Breath of the Wild. They could release it tomorrow and it would still sell millions and millions of copies. It's just one of those games that doesn't need any marketing, but like I said, it still should get one. There's still several months before it's even supposed to come out though.

It'll get it's time, but they have other games coming out in the meantime. Again, it doesn't need a massive push, but it will still likely get one once Pokemon and Bayonetta 3 are out like @CJD87 said.

Usually the push for 1st half of the year titles:

• Release in January/February: Reveal/re-reveal in September and then big push appears after the last holiday game releases
• Release in March: Reveal/re-reveal in September and then big push appears from February onwards
• Release in April - June: Reveal/re-reveal in February and then big push appears from the end of March onwards

@Bolt_Strike As for BotW and E3 2016, it's important to remember context. E3 2015 was very negatively received meanwhile most of Wii U and 3DS' known upcoming lineup had controversy among the Nintendo community attached like Federation Force wasn't a normal Metroid or Metroid Prime game, Color Splash wasn't like 64/TTYD, Mario Party Star Rush didn't have normal Mario Party boards, etc. Which left Pokemon Sun/Moon and BotW so Nintendo focused on those.

We don't have that kind of situation this time.

Can we agree that our next Nintendo presentation will be an Indie World? There's a full 6 weeks between Splatoon 3 and Sparks of Hope for Nintendo make announcements.

Is the rumored GBA addition to the Switch Online Expansion Pak likely to be revealed and launched this Fall?

@Grumblevolcano
I hope this doesn’t mean as long as the war is going on Advance Wars and Goldeneye will never be released. I don’t think the war in Ukraine will end for at least another year.

@KilloWertz In theory they could, but it wouldn't sell very well if they did that. They need 3-6 months of marketing to get the word out to casuals, more details on the game for people that might be on the fence about the game (what separates this game from the first BotW?). They really shouldn't be waiting until after the holidays to spill the beans on this game unless it's releasing in Summer 2023 or later.

@Grumblevolcano It's not really like that, we don't usually wait until after the holidays to learn key information about a game coming early in the year. The kind of information we're waiting on for BotW2 (such as the name, release date, and details on some key selling points on the game) usually happens in September for games releasing early in the year.

Also, while this year's lineup doesn't quite have the controversy that 2015/2016's had, it doesn't really have a positive reception either. Most of the games they're focusing on are niche sellers that probably won't crack 2-3 million and the vast majority of Nintendo fans don't care about them. So in the eyes of the average Nintendo fan, Nintendo has basically nothing, which is why everyone's been foaming at the mouth for a Nintendo Direct this summer. We should start to see a shift towards BoTW2 and SV in the same way that they focused on BotW and SM in 2016, those are basically the only two titles we know about with broad mainstream appeal.

@Bolt_Strike Here's some examples:

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Reveal in September 2021 Direct, next info in February 2022 Direct, then lots of promo up to release in March 2022
• Switch Sports - Reveal in February 2022 Direct, next info was in late March 2022, then lots of promo up to release in April 2022
• 3D World - Reveal in September 2020 Mario Direct, next info was an ad at the Game Awards (which aired after the final holiday 2020 release), then lots of promo in January/February 2021
• TMS#FE Encore - Revealed in September 2019 Direct, next info was a trailer in late December 2019 (which was after the final holiday 2019 release), then lots of promo up to launch in January 2020
• Animal Crossing New Horizons - Proper reveal at E3 2019, recap of E3 info at September 2019 Direct followed by lots of info from February 2020 onwards

Sure there are exceptions like Pokemon Legends Arceus had info monthly from August 2021 onwards and Yoshi's Crafted World had a Treehouse Live segment in November 2018. But in general it does follow the pattern that after the final holiday release has been released (this year that's currently Scarlet/Violet on November 18th but they could announce something else for this year), they start massively promoting the January and February releases for the rest of the year alongside their holiday lineup. Then the March release gets massive promo in February alongside the rest of the Spring lineup.

@Grumblevolcano Again though, we knew more about those games at reveal then we currently know about BotW2. Where we are with BotW2 is more comparable to where we were with ACNH before its proper reveal at E3 2019 or Yoshi's Crafted World in 2017/2018. We're still waiting for the proper reveal of BotW2 and we need it relatively soon for the marketing to really work well, that's what's probably going to market the game most effectively, knowing WTF the game is actually like.