Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Novamii It's a really interesting question. The series has a lot more name recognition now so could easily become one of the 'looking for game for my child, oh this one' type game which to some degree I think is what it has become post-pandemic.

As for repeat players? A lot of people (including myself) never played the series before ACNH. I feel like many people will want to try the next game to see if it recaptures that feeling for them... and it might or might not because they will be busy so won't be able to play 80 hours straight while stuck indoors 😅 Part of me thinks because of this the next game might sell really well (though not as well as ACNH) but the one after that may be lower unless Nintendo really steps up.

From a personal point of view I had specifically not planned to buy the game, but then the pandemic came and now I have 100s of hours in it. 😆

Wait has the LM2HD overview trailer happened in countries besides Japan? Could this potentially effect something with the Direct? Could it be a chunk of the Direct?

It would be pretty funny since so many people are expecting a Direct this week and then it’s just the LM2HD overview trailer drop.

@PikminMarioKirby MORE LIKE NOT FUNNY IMA CRY IF THERES NOT ONE

Pls don’t cry ;(

@Novamii Honestly I don't think it's easy for them to make a game that's a downgrade from New Horizons- seeing as that game was already a massive downgrade compared to other titles in the series. Would be surprised if they somehow made an Animal Crossing title worse than New Horizons- especially if they end up doubling down on its approach to the series as a whole.

@Novamii I enjoy the game a bit now, but I just miss when the game used to actually punish the player. A lot of people saw it as archaic and the game holding them hostage, but I just really loved how it felt like the world kept going even when you weren't there. Having things like flowers die or villagers moving out made it feel like the world of the game didn't just revolve around myself. That it genuinely was another world. I hope the next game at least includes a toggle that allows for Villagers to move out on their own and for flowers to die- but seeing as a good number of people felt it was bothersome I doubt they'll do something just to appease a small vocal minority of the fanbase.

Then you're refuting a misunderstanding of my argument. I didn't say they're not system sellers, they clearly are. What I said was that these games, while technically system sellers, are almost in a different category to something like a Zelda, Mario or Metroid. Because they are more casual and a less likely to be the type of consumers who will camp out on day 1 for a premium piece of hardware

As I said, if they launched something like a new Animal Crossing on Switch and Switch 2 next year? Proportionally far more of those sales would convert to Switch, and probably Switch Lite, purchases than they would for something like a Metroid Prime which would heavily skew the other way

As an anecdotal point, my Sister is a huge Animal Crossing fan. She picked up a Switch before AC was announced, late 2017 IIRC, but only because when she asked me I said AC was inevitable given Switch would replace 3DS eventually. She has maybe a dozen games. Mario Kart, PuyoPuyo Tetris, Stardew Valley, a couple of Jackbox games, a couple of Kirbys, various Picrosses, Switch Sports, Hogwarts Legacy and Animal Crossing

I am very confident that Switch 2 isn't on her radar and won't be for a good while. If a new AC was out next year on both Switch and Switch 2? She's not buying new hardware. She has no complaints about the Switch as it is even though she is well aware how gimped games like Hogwarts Legacy are (I have it on PC). She's just not invested in games from that angle. So yeah, different category

So again, Metroid is one of the "big 3". In the sense that it's one of the three biggest franchises Nintendo has to motivate sales for enthusiasts and early adopters. They have bigger sellers sure, and bigger system movers overall. But none that motivate early sales quite the same. Pokemon and Animal Crossing are mid-cycle system sellers. There's a difference

@Novamii That's why I loved villagers in Animal Crossing New Leaf and the older games so much. You grow attached and then you realize when they leave how attached you really were to them. It's a microcosm of life that showcases to children that eventually people will drift apart from one another- or that life opportunities will come and people will move away. It was a core foundation of the series given that the original creator of the series made Animal Crossing to reflect how it felt to move away from his friends and family to pursue a job at Nintendo. Just hope Animal Crossing 6 reels back the player being at the center of the world a little bit.

@skywake I could see Animal Crossing being a system selling game if Nintendo just makes it exclusive to only Switch 2- however I doubt we're getting a new Animal Crossing game any time soon. The devs seem to prioritize Splatoon a bit more in recent years, so they're probably working on Splatoon 4- given that they won't want to not have a new Splatoon within the first two years of the Switch 2's lifespan.

@VoidofLight I believe that the dev teams for splatoon and AC are pretty much different now, with only a little bit of overlap, so it's possible (probable, even) that they're working on both simultaneously.

@HiGuysGames I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe that's why New Horizons could've been so different- or at least part of the reason as to why. I know a ton of the older staff that worked on New Leaf either seemed to have stepped down from development on the series, or are taking a back-seat overseer role.

Next Animal Crossing on Switch 2 should keep the same thing from ACNH: Villagers stay forever and never moving out by themselves unless we kick them out intentionally.
I never like the moving out by force if I don't play the game for several days, just let me keep all my villagers like The Sims games.
I don't care with their 101 dialogues.
ACNH is the most appeal Animal Crossing game for having villagers stay forever no matter how long I didn't play the games.
This is what I want and forget the antics from older Animal Crossing games.

@Tayrailbridge If it is the 18th, it's probably just a good guess by Midori.

Something to consider regarding Direct timing is that much like Pokemon has Pokemon Presents for Pokemon Day, Sonic has Sonic Central. June 23rd (Sonic's Birthday) is a Sunday this year though so I figure Sonic Central this year will be on June 20th or 21st.

@Tayrailbridge Ehhh. I wouldn't even call it confirmation. Even though everyone knows it's most likely this week, Midori's words are just as good as me saying there'll be a direct this week. Especially given how dubious their Nintendo leaks are- seeing where the source of their actual original leaks even came from.

Nintendo should make the direct June 30th just to troll everyone. Even though that's a Sunday.

Anyways, if we don't hear from Nintendo in 12 or so hours we can all go back to waiting for Pyoro 😛

@VoidofLight
Yeah, I'm sure there's a new AC in the works I just don't see it as a "launch year game". It's just not that sort of game. Of course if it was already in the works and by chance happens to be ready for the first year? Sure. The more content in that first year the better. But I don't see it as the sort of game you'd divert resources to or delay for the sake of hitting the target of being a first year Switch 2 game

Also I'd argue that Animal Crossing is the sort of game that does crowd out other releases. For the people who are into it once it's out that's all they use their console for for months on end. I said earlier that I don't think that games like Metroid, Mario or Zelda overshadow each other. Animal Crossing does, over everything

@Tayrailbridge I don’t think Midori’s sources have been revealed (and likely won’t) but from what I’ve read, he traded “leaks” and rumors with other people, some of which have been proven false as of late.

If I recall, one of Midori’s incorrect “leaks” claimed that multiple Square Enix games were to appear at the Xbox showcase last week, which turned out to be mostly false; I say mostly false since only one title related to Square Enix, Life is Strange, appeared, so while he did get it sort of right, it was off by a large margin. However, there was also info he released on Visions of Mana that turned out completely wrong in comparison to the Square Enix Xbox “leak.”

He was mostly accurate with info related to Sega and Atlus, but was incorrect with non-Sega “leaks,” so it is possible that Midori received this info from poor sources and other “leakers” with bad track records.

To add, Midori was said to have ran out of real leaks immediately after a 2021-2023 internal Sega presentation with Persona 3 Reload footage was leaked online last year, which he got ahold of himself apparently. However, while Midori got most of the info on Reload correct and the presentation seemed to be mostly accurate since it was apparently from Sega itself, it was the only piece of official info he had and he did not have more “leaks” from other official sources. He resorted to trading with other “leakers” to get gaming info instead, which of course turned out to be a poor decision that led to a messy situation that revealed him to be a fake and a no longer trusted “leaker.” It is very possible that with the info we know now, Midori could have actually not had a source in the first place.

@FishyS : Still june

So we've got 3-4 hours left for the announcement if it is airing tomorrow. I do wonder if they'll go back to late night general Directs (10pm/11pm UK time), for some reason they changed to airing at 3pm UK time for 3 of the past 4 (September 2022, June 2023, September 2023).