Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@MarioBrickLayer Well yeah, the situation is weird. The info we have is:

• Nintendo are not participating in E3
• Increase in Switch production
• Nintendo said there's new Switch games after TotK (though the Direct told us that with Pikmin 4)
• Only unknown 1st party release timings are Detective Pikachu and Metroid Prime 4
• Nintendo has said no price drop is happening

All of this would make sense if Nintendo were participating in E3 as they could easily pull a 2021 and just announce a very strong fall/holiday lineup in an E3 Direct (prior to E3 2021 the only known 2021 1st party game after July was Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl). But given how loyal Nintendo are to E3, their absence makes it seem like they feel there aren't enough games after Pikmin 4 to justify participating.

@GrailUK That could easily be smokescreen, there are ways that could be true while we still could be getting next gen hardware announced in the coming year. I mean, when the Switch was announced, 3DS was still getting games, there were some late releases like Metroid Samus Returns and the Mario & Luigi remakes and cross gen games such as the ports of Captain Toad and Fire Emblem Warriors. They could be referring to those types of releases for the Switch.

I don't think it is unnecessary drama to say the lineup is slowing. We've had very few heavy hitters since 2020 and some of them are about due for new entries but seem to be intentionally held back, such as 2D Mario, 3D Mario, and Mario Kart, and multiple other lower selling IPs that seem due for reveals such as Prime 4 and DK. We have little to nothing on the horizon after Pikmin 4. They're skipping E3, and when they do that they have very little first party news to show. The signs seem to be pointing more towards them waiting for the right time to announce new hardware for this kind of blowout than them waiting to release TotK, we'd have a little more scheduled/announced even before 2023 if that was the case, but for the most part 2021-2023 overall has been somewhat of a slump. It's more likely that they started shifting towards next gen once the pandemic lifted than them expecting this kind of lineup to sustain them for another 2-3 years.

@Bolt_Strike Next gen hardware requires more dev time for games. Probably tied in with the nice pay increase everyone recently got. So I'm not saying that new hardware isn't coming. But I don't think they are going to just cut ties with Switch lol. That is preposterous to even entertain that. This is not the Direct to jump to conclusions. I would argue wait till June's because anything till then, to me, is just noise. Lol, if we do get a tweet saying 'Tune in to tomorrow's Direct featuring approximately 3 minutes of games released this last half year...' would be hilarious. Must say, imagine the internet's reaction when after that Direct eveyone is like 'Nintendo have...have nothing...'
All I know is if that Direct was 'slowing down' with the number of games I want to play...then I'm in trouble hahahaha!

Sony and Microsoft aren't participating in E3 2023. Therefore, they don't have any new games to show and the PS6/Xbox Series Y are right around the corner. Wild card!

@Euler Sony and Microsoft are at each other's throats over the Activision acquisition.

@GrailUK They're not going to quit cold turkey for sure, but there has to be a decrease. Assigning resources to next gen games means that they have to have less resources working on Switch games. And with the relative lack of output and the number of IPs missing, I think we've already been seeing that decrease. 2020-2022 hasn't been nothing, but it's definitely been less than 2017-2019. There were a ton of games and IPs in the first half of the lineup that have been MIA in the second half of the lineup (2D Mario, 2D Zelda, Yoshi, DK, and Luigi's Mansion, while Mario Kart, 3D Mario, and Smash have been technically supported past 2020 but have not had a full main entry, they've only had DLC, spinoffs, or remakes/remasters). Again, I don't think it's absolutely nothing left, but it definitely feels like the Switch is just getting scraps at this point. For the most part the major new entries have vanished.

So? All the more to own the other one on the stage. We all saw how Sony ended Sega's status as a major console developer back at E3 '95.

I think one thing everyone is forgetting regarding next generation hardware from Nintendo and the longer development times for new games etc is that Nintendo is currently constructing a new development block to greatly expand their internal development teams so they won’t require as much outsourcing. I imagine this is going to be to ensure they can keep the frequent release schedule games coming out for the next hardware.

@FragRed Nintendo's always looking to expand their development resources, but how quickly can they create entirely new teams to get more games out? It takes a lot of developers to create an entirely new team because of how much work goes into AAA games, they'd need a good 100+ for that. I do think they've added enough developers to add 1, maybe 2 new teams, but I don't think it's quite compensating for the developers being pulled to next gen right now. In fact I don't think we've even seen any tangible increase in games as a result of those hirings yet. There is a rumor that the EPD Tokyo Team has expanded enough to be able to work on both 3D Mario and DK, but we haven't had an announcement of either IP in the last 2 years so it's hard to say if that's true yet.

@skywake @BoltStrike_,@Grumblevolcano,@MagicianShuntaro Furukawa has stated in the latest financial report, they dont plan to do a price cut on Switch or it games, also i dont feel for IGN/VGC report that state Nintendo is gonna have a light holiday, the june Nintendo Direct will shut up this falacy, Switch sucessor is still way off to release

@Fragred @BoltStrike_ since 2019, Nintendo is working to expand it development studios and buy more companies, in the financial report for setembre last, they stated, they gonna spent ¥300milion yen to expand it development studios and buy more companies for them, they are preparing for the Switch sucessor

@Giancarlothomaz I don't think they'd show off anything about new hardware until much later in the year. The schedule hasn't winded down yet. I do think that if there is a June Direct, it would be the one to contain signs that the next console is on its way, like a software drought. The absence of a Direct as well would speak volumes.

@Giancarlothomaz
And you think Nintendo would telegraph a price cut months in advance of a price cut?

I think we will see Pokemon Direct in late February 2023.

I could see Nintendo cutting the price of the Lite simply to dump inventory of that SKU.

But neither the V2 nor the OLED are getting a price cut this year.

@skywake no,Shuntaro Furukawa made very clear they will not do a price cut for Nintendo Switch in the future or its games.

@Magician @Giancarlothomaz
A couple of things. Firstly, again, no company is going to telegraph price cuts months in advance that's just a dumb move. If asked directly they're going to deny it every time. It just makes absolutely no sense to effectively tell your potential consumers to wait and not buy your product. Same deal with talk of new hardware, you delay that announcement as long as is feasible and if asked directly put out PR denials

Secondly, there are a LOT of ways you can do a price cut. It doesn't necessarily mean literally selling the exact the same hardware at a lower price. It can also mean releasing a more budget SKU at a lower price point. Like they did with the 3DS late in its cycle with the New 2DS. It can also be done by releasing a higher tier SKU at the same price and discounting the existing SKU to clear inventory.

Personally, I can certainly see room for retiring the v2 SKU from retail, letting the price of the OLED drop to fill the gap and letting retailers clear existing v2 stock. I also think there's plenty of room for a mini-OLED or a Switch Micro. And as a side note, the storage options across the Switch SKUs? They're comically bad. I mean, I can go into a PC retailer and pay $30-40AU for a 256GB SSD or $40-60AU for 512GB and you're charging $450AU for a console but can only fit 32GB of flash in it...... it's a bit of a joke. They could easily 4-8x the storage across all SKUs and still maintain their comically comfortable margin

Nintendo will participate of Pax East 2023

https://www.sidequesting.com/2023/02/nintendo-will-have-a-boo...

That should be interesting. I expect more details about previously announced software rather than anything new.

There we go, Pokemon Presents confirmed for Pokemon Day (February 27th):