Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Euler
Outside of Japan Emerald released after the DS and in Japan it was basically on top of the DS launch. Black/White 2 was well after the 3DS launch. Sun/Moon were released in the dying days of the 3DS and Ultra Sun/Moon were launched well after Switch. And notably in the case of the latter GF/TPC were very publicly cautious about moving to Switch. Pokemon will almost surely not be the tip of the speer for Switch 2 software

I think if anyone is reading the tea-leaves and mindlessly speculating here it is you for taking anything from Pokemon as a sign of what Nintendo will do hardware wise. Pokemon lags hardware, always has. And even if this Legends game is on Switch 2, notably there was no gameplay footage and all we really got was "2025", what were you expecting here? Nothing short of them litterally announcing Switch 2 at the tail end of a Pokemon Direct would have squashed your delusion here. Which, I think we can all agree, is not how Switch 2 will be announced

I'm waiting for Nintendo to do a random weekend shadow-drop just to troll all the leakers and speculators. 😝

The thing is, if the Switch 2 were to release this year, the decision to put it into production wouldn't need to be taken until around May. We're still in February so that's three months away, and any rumor that it would happen this year is going to be contingent upon them giving in the green light when they get to that point.

They may have already decided that it's not going to happen, because there's too much that needs to be done in the next three months, in which case the decision point gets pushed back to October for a release next March.

If this happens too many times, they might even scrub the console entirely in favor of something else that they've been developing. If the Switch Pro ever was a thing, that might well have been its fate.

That's not to say that the rumors about these things are necessarily true, and good luck picking out the wishcasting from the genuine leaks, but just because a rumored console got delayed or never released doesn't mean that all of the rumors were untrue.

By the way, this is coming from a guy who thinks that all these supposed "insiders" are just guessing.

That is what came to mind if they chose to save a 2024 Pokemon game for a general Direct. 3DS/Wii U online shutdown is on April 8th which is a complicated matter regarding mainline Pokemon given how much functionality Gens 6 and 7 had.

@Clammy Ooh thats good information, I'm glad you said that (gives me 1 more reason to not believe these "rumors")

One easy way here to see qualitative differences of rumours is whether or not NintendoLife reports on them. For example they didn't have articles about supposed Direct dates... until the week before when the rumour was in fact 100% correct. They did have articles about Microsoft and Peach game leaks which turned out to be true. They mentioned the possibly leaked Switch 2 chip which has neither been confirmed or denied yet but there is a lot of evidence for. Looking back at their rumour articles most turn out to be true because they seem to have much higher standards for reporting rumours (presumably number of sources etc) than most game rags have. The fact that they reported on the 2025 date honestly gives it more credence in my eyes — it's not like they are saying it is true but they think it is potentially solid enough that it deserves mentioning.

@GalaxicGlobe : Its not about believing or not believing. They may very well be correct.

But if they're correct, the websites will get smug and say "I told you so", if they're wrong, the websites will say "Well, something must've happened"... (see the switch plus/etc).

Just about taking everything with a pinch of salt, and there just to get hits on utter nonsense - but 100% factual this time! Honest!

Websites main bread and butter is from getting you to click on articles.. Whether true or not...

@FishyS : NintendoLife told you the direct was coming early january...

.. And told you switch-proplus was an actual thing

I was just looking and couldn't find any articles about early January direct. I might be wrong - can you find the article? I see an article in early January saying the first direct would probably be in February.

As for Pro-- it turned out to be called 'Switch OLED'. But also covid happened and we still don't know whether it was supposed to be a real fancier thing or not. So that is still in the 'maybe true' category until Nintendo eventually gives us a history or has another massive data leak.

Either way I stand by NL being much better than other game sites — they don't report on 95% of supposed leaks and rumours and they are much more likely to report on the ones which end up being true. But I'm not claiming they are psychic and correct 100% of the time. 😝 The only one correct 100% of the time is Pyoro. 🤔

Traditionally that has been true, but Game Freak as of late has been actively trying to defy every pattern they have to the point where you kind of have to throw history out the window and analyze the situation objectively. It used to be that they always had a third version. But then they did something different in 5th gen with BW2 instead of a Gray version, and then XY didn't get ANY kind of third version (until now at least). Now they just seem to do DLC in place of a third version. Then there was the pattern that Pokemon would always debut on new hardware with a new generation (see: RS on the GBA, DP on the DS, XY on the 3DS), but then they broke that pattern by putting LGPE on Switch instead of waiting for SwSh. Then it used to be that remakes would use the same graphic style/engine as the new generation the remake debuted on (i.e. FRLG seems to use RS' graphical style, HGSS uses DP's, ORAS uses XY's). But then BDSP broke that pattern being an outsourced to ILCA and using a graphical style resembling the original DP. Now we're saying "Pokemon never jumps to new hardware early" and... they could easily break that pattern too if they want. Now there's no definitive prove that they will, and yes, it could be a late Switch game like some of the others, but there are some subtle signs that make it at least plausible. It's very suspicious that they don't have a holiday game this year and the game looks like it might have a theme of ends, beginnings and transitions.

@Bolt_Strike
My post was in response to someone trying to read the tea-leaves about Pokemon games coming to Switch meaning there's no Switch 2 on the horizon until 2026. So it should be read in that context. But I will stand by my point that Game Freak has traditionally been very, very slow to move to new hardware so if I was to bet on it I would lean towards Pokemon staying on Switch well beyond the release of "Switch 2"

In terms of the "pattern" and them "breaking" it? It's less about the pattern and more about culture. The odd-ness around the 3DS era where they broke their "third version" pattern? That's mostly because during that period the bulk of their development focus wasn't on Pokemon at all. It didn't pay off and it seems as though they're going back on it. The transition to Switch? It's not at all a secret that they were hesitant about Switch so it really shouldn't surprise that their first title was a lighter game. I'm not convinced that them being slow to adopt new hardware is a pattern they'll break

But generally my point is simply that you can't really read into an announcement of a game as proof of anything relating to the release of hardware. Especially from Game Freak who, unlike Retro or Nintendo themselves, march to the beat of their own drum and generally have little regard for timing their releases around new hardware releases. And I think on that we agree

@Clammy Very true words!! I have learned Nintendo is not predictable so we will see what they cook up!

@FishyS I do agree that Nintendo-Life is much more creditable but I think they reported on the "2025 delay" thing is because it was taken as fact by many and got really big and when there is big news you gotta get a piece of the pie.
Again I'm just speculating here and I just want a new switch sooner than later but we will see what happens.

Aye, I find it interesting people assume the next console will be just another Switch, but with more power. Which would be VERY un-nintendo like..

It's Nintendo, the most obvious thing is always the thing they dont do.

The other thing to bare/bear (I never know which one of those to write) in mind is that the 2025 thing seems to have originated from a Brazillian reporter. MAYBE, just MAYBE it's true, but only for that country, etc etc?

As I say, its all utter nonsense until we know for sure.

But if it ISNT coming until 2025, I want a new direct VERY soon telling me which nintendo games are coming in the 2nd half of this year (I suspect it'd happen just after the peach game, as not a lot else is coming after that)

I think it is because Nintendo has done a "Wii U" "3DS" "SNES" and stuff like that.

@Clammy Idk anymore, if the old march leaks are true then i guess we will see soon.

Despite the rumors, I'm still betting on 2024. If spring comes and goes with no announcement, I'll believe in the 2025 release date.

Like what @GalaxicGlobe said, there definitely is history for it, also having merged their two R&D departments it seems very likely that they have no plans of going back to handheld or TV console. That leaves hybrid, especially since hybrid is working out so well for them, and it doesn't really make sense to try any sort of new hybrid because it'll cause confusion and the Switch is already near perfect in terms of concept. I do, however, think that they'll have some sort of novel element to check off that Nintendo surprise factor box that gives each console its own unique flavor.

@skywake They haven't really "gone back" to third versions at this point. They did briefly with USUM, but since then they've taken to DLC to fill the role of third versions. And that's one pattern I don't think they'll break from for the foreseeable future since it's both developer and consumer friendly to just have an add-on to their existing game instead of trying to turn it into an extra version.

As for why they might change their mind on getting on new hardware early, one thing that the Switch has really shown is the importance of early momentum. That 2017 lineup is one of the biggest reasons why the Switch was so successful, and some of those early titles are among the best sellers on the console. And since Game Freak initially thought the Switch would be a failure, they're certainly taking notes on what the Switch did to understand why they were wrong, and I think they've probably picked up on the Switch's early lineup being a key contributing factor.

I think if you want to claim that the games aren't going to be a Switch 2 release, the main question you have to consider is "Why else is there no 2024 game?". I'm struggling to find alternative explanations that make sense. They're not the type to follow Nintendo's philosophy of delaying a game to make it better, and SV has sold insane numbers in spite of its lack of polish which discourages them from changing it. They always like to capitalize on the holiday season with something to sell. A delay from Holiday 2024 to 2025 because the Switch 2 was delayed is the only explanation I can think of that would be realistic. They'd probably only delay if it's something out of their hands, and aside from real world issues (which there haven't been any that we know of in the last 2 years that would affect this game), the only explanation that would be is a hardware delay.