Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Croctopus
Prepare yourself if suddenly you see something looks like 3DS / NDS machine from next Nintendo Direct, it might be the Switch 2 machine model with design like 3DS based on the rumors we heard.

To me it really doesn't look like there's gonna be a September general direct, and that in itself is evidence of switch 2 reveal coming sooner rather than later. As we all know, major September directs happen nearly every year, so the lack of one this year implies the switch is slowing down for real this time. I know people point to the crazy good June direct as 1) the reason we don't need a September one, and 2) proof that the switch can always surprise us with a jolt of life just when we think its dying, but I have a theory that it was a fluke that was never really meant to be.

As weird as it sounds for a twitter leaker to effect Nintendo's reveal schedule so much, knowing how crazy protective Nintendo is of their stuff makes me think the reason the reason the February direct was a partner was Pyoro. Like surely they could revealed 2 out of the 5 new games from June, shown off everything from the partner showcase, given new info on Princess Peach and TTYD and had a satisfying showcase that still left room for a satisfying amount of reveals in June. Plus I especially doubt that they wanted a game like Echoes of Wisdom to be limited to a 3 month hype cycle that makes it feel smaller than it seemingly is.

Anyway, I really don't see them having nothing but DKC and Prime 4 on the calendar until February direct season, nor do I see a switch 1 general direct or significant twitter reveals happening before then... since November/December news is rare due to holidays and the rumors of news being pushed up seem to hold water, I'm really starting to think we'll get switch 2 revealed this September or October.

I mean... Furukawa said, that they want to manufacture as many units for release as possible to fulfill demands.
That at least for me is the biggest indicator of a rather soon Nintendo Switch initial trailer-esque reveal.
Nintendo certainly doesn't want production line leaks to spoil the party.
This is why I believe in a reveal right before manufactoring kicks off, which will happen in Octobre at least in my thought process of the console releasing in next years 2nd quarter.

@Novamii Yeah there are a few that do that, although 1st party Nintendo games often avoid it. They probably think there shouldn't be an option to compromise part of the game, so they avoid. Very understandable, but still hope we do see upgrades for this gen's games for the next console!

@GrailUK @Grumblevolcano
I think the week of September 16 will be a very important week for Nintendo. Seems extremely likely we'll either get a general Direct or a Switch Successor announcement that week, depending on how the prior weeks play out. If we get big trailers for Brothership or Mario Party Jamboree and/or an Echoes of Wisdom overview trailer (internationally), I think it's more likely for there to be a Switch Successor presentation. If we don't get any of those, I think a Nintendo Direct is still in the cards.

@Pastellioli
I'm not necessarily against the idea of a reveal early next year but there are certainly a couple of things you said there I don't really agree with

For a start I would think a general September Direct seems fairly unlikely at this stage. If they were going to do one it seems odd that they've been pushing out trailers and Directs through this last month at the rate they have. Notably today they've put out another Echoes of Wisdom trailer. I'd go even further and say that some of the content they put in the June Direct could've been saved for September, but it wasn't. All of this makes me think an imminent general direct less probable. Not impossible, just less probable

Secondly I think people seriously overestimate how much people buying consoles at this point in the will care about things like new hardware announcements. Worth pointing out that I was one of those people at the start of this year when I upgraded to the OLED model. But I'm far from the median console buyer. People buying the Switch this late will tend to be the kinds of people why buy consoles late in their life. These people generally won't be first in the queue for Switch 2. Of course it will have some impact but I think the impact is overstated

It's also worth noting that the 3DS sold ~13million after the DS had been released and an additional ~20mill in the year between announcement and release. The Switch is of course further along the sales decline than the DS was in 2010 but still. Last-gen consoles have a tendency tend to stick around for a bit as a budget gaming option. The GBA did this, the DS did this, the 3DS did also. I've mentioned before on here that the first home console that was mine was the SNES, what I often don't mention is that my parents got it for me new in '98 and I feasted for years on discount bins and ex-rentals. It's a thing. I think the Switch Lite in particular is going to be the go-to console for that 7-14 demographic for another couple of years

Lastly but, and I think the biggest thing I disagree with you on. I don't think Nintendo cares about milestones. And they certainly don't care about it at the expense of a successful Switch 2 launch. If Nintendo are anything it's forward looking and often blissfully unaware of things like milestones and anniversaries. NoA certainly cares and goes out of their way to try and bend the marketing into those shapes. But Nintendo HQ isn't interested in those kinds of things. Let Sony keep pretending the PS2 sold 160mill, I doubt Nintendo's execs will be losing much sleep over it if they fall short while burying PS as a brand in Japan with Switch 2

I think we'll see an announcement within the next three months. Very possibly next month. And the reason I think that is because I believe that they're going to start production of hardware soon if they haven't started already. They'll announce to get out ahead of the inevitable leaks from that process. And I think it's no more complicated than that

As a side note more relevant to this thread in general. The person who leaked a the museum and indie/partner Direct I shared a link for a couple of pages back. Dude is from Brazil and is relatively active on Twitter. Brazil just banned Twitter. I don't think this will change much as far as we're concerned given he's active on other platforms but still, worth noting. Not impossible that he loses contact with some of his sources

Excuse triple post but just circling back to this:

https://www.gamereactor.eu/final-fantasy-xivs-yoshi-p-says-th...

@skywake Hm, I do think some of my points do lack a lot of logic and reasoning now after reading those points you made.

I also do doubt a September Direct happening despite that info I used and mentioned. The only Direct I could see happening is one that revolves around one of their 2024 titles and gives an overview of it. Usually around the September-October timeline that’s what they do. I would say maybe Brothership or Echoes of Wisdom, but that game is releasing pretty soon. I would say maybe one of those. I am not very confident in a September Direct following afterward, but I am certain they will still hold a February Direct next year. 2024 is wrapping up in a few months, and I think almost everything they announced as released or is awaiting release soon. I can see some of the stuff that would have been in a September Direct, like more NSO news, being saved for a social media announcement. Nintendo is super hard to guess sometimes. Almost all the time I’d say.

I don’t expect the “Switch 2” to flop when it releases, I do think it’ll do well, but I know that a lot of people won’t switch to it immediately, I know I will be one of those people. Maybe a good few will switch to the next console after release, that MIGHT impact how much it sells, but I do agree that it won’t be by a huge margin, but I think for me, it’s super hard to tell if it will be affected by a lot or by less cuz since Nintendo has still kept their mouths shut on what the console will be and if it will be stronger and better than the original Switch. Maybe if the next console is stronger and has wanted features like backwards compatibility then maybe people will buy it instead or swap fast, but again, it’s a bit hard to tell.

The milestones thing I mentioned was a bit irrelevant and stupid to bring up, now that I look at it. I think some might care, but I know now that Nintendo probably doesn’t a lot. Sony probably cares a lot about the Switch possibly surpassing the PlayStation 2, probably why it was estimated it sold 160 million recently. Sorry for bringing up an irrelevant point in here.

@Pastellioli
All good, nothing wrong with throwing out a theory. Openly testing different ideas is how you strengthen them. Never feel bad about throwing an idea out there that can't withstand scrutiny. A strong view isn't the one you stubbornly hold onto in spite of good arguments against. A strong view is the one that can withstand scrutiny. Wisdom is knowing the difference and is something we're all horrible at

But yeah, I do think that there will be another presentation early next year. January/February. I also think that it makes a lot of sense for there to be some information relating to NSO between now and the end of October but, you're right, that could easily be a relatively low profile twitter announcement or something

However I do think that the timing of the announcement itself is being squeezed on two sides. On the one end there's the ramping up of production that will almost inevitably result in leaks. Something Nintendo will want to get ahead of. On the other side there are the games that would've been in development for Switch 2 for years now. Games that at this point would be almost ready and can't be talked about until Switch 2 is announced. I can't see a huge February Direct happening if it doesn't talk about Switch 2 games and I can't see them ramping up production without revealing what it is and controlling the message around the first impressions

The only thing I think could happen next month aside from a switch 2 reveal would be a Metroid Prime 4 direct.

@skywake He was mentioning XIV though. Not XVI. XIV is the MMORPG.

@VoidofLight
Fair call, I'm not at all versed in FF and have liittle interest in it. Especially the newer ones. So I'm sure you're way more aware of the what's and where's than I am and I did mux ip the Roman Numerals there!

But yeah, I think anything that can run on Series S is a potential candidate for Switch 2. And there's clearly interest from Square Enix in supporting Switch 2. There's reason to be optimistic I think

@skywake Thank you. I think that on here, a lot of the comments and replies I get can sometimes widen my perspectives and make me think of a lot of plausible reasons and a ton of other theories. Yours are very helpful and understandable!

I think that a January or February Direct can be expected, if they don’t do something similar to what they did recently by having a different and big Direct presentation happening before the usual month for a direct. With the NSO stuff, I could speculate on what the next NSO game will be, but I don’t know which game it will be. A question, but if that does happen, what game do you think it’ll be? For me, I think that it will be an N64 game. A lot of people have been saying it will probably be Conker, but I see it being a first-party title instead, probably an obvious pick that hasn’t been on the service yet.

But, since they have the 17+ one, they now have two N64 services to update. They could drop two games at once (which think they have done five times before) and the last two N64 NSO drops had two games release simultaneously. So, I could see them doing a double release where one game goes onto the T-rated app and one goes on the M-rated app, since they probably want to put more content on M-rated app since it only has two games, and it has been a few months since the T-rated app has been updated.

If the NSO game(s) is put on there maybe September or October, the next game will probably either be in November or December, but I am getting a bit ahead of myself with my speculation. They could also release NSO games sporadically.

Oh, I am wondering what they could show in a February Direct if the next console is revealed beforehand. Of course Nintendo announced that they would be taking leaks more seriously and increasing their security after that Pyoro fiasco, and them announcing the “Switch 2” early could definitely beat the leakers to the punch before they show and release any private info and footage before it’s supposed to be shown. I maybe could see that happening soon, if they are already prepared and want to make sure nothing spills out.

@Pastellioli
No idea on what they might do for NSO. There are plenty of things they could do. I think them pulling the trigger on some Rare releases could work. In particular the Donkey Kong Land games and 64 are a gap and might make sense alongside DRKC. But also yes to the Conker

I've said before that I think Pokemon could be on the cards. Would certainly make a splash and be something to boost interest in Switch even with a Switch 2 announcement. There's also always a possibility of new systems. PC Engine perhaps? Neo Geo Pocket? Master System? I'd imagine GC might be something they'll hold onto for a bit but even that's theoretically possible as is DS. Not short on options here

@skywake New systems would be cool. I think it usually takes them two or three years to add new game systems to the mix, but I don’t know when the next system will be added since the GB and GBC services were very recent, last year I believe. A lot of people have mentioned GameCube or DS games but I think DS games are a bit more likely to happen. They could maybe do another Sega system too, a Dreamcast one would be cool.

Rare releases would be nice too. I think for the N64 games, they only have 5 titles left, but I think the DK games and the ones they have using their original IPs are super likely. One of those 5 is a licensed Disney game, being Mickey’s Speedway USA, which I can’t see happening for obvious reasons (unless they could work something out with the licensing) so it would technically be 4 (DKR, DK64, B-T, and CBFD). A few of their GB games would be nice picks too. But, Pokémon would also be a super obvious pick, still surprises me that they have not added any of the mainline GB and GBA games yet. I’m pretty sure Pokémon games on GB and GBA have been wanted for a few years now.

@Pastellioli
It took years for them to put Pokemon Gen 1 and 2 on virtual console, pretty much near the end of the VC releases. It might be a while, maybe in February 2026 for the 30th anniversary celebration of the original games release.

You guys all have well thought out arguments meanwhile I just say what I think soooo... bear with me haha! I have a feeling "Switch 2" will be announced in a February Direct. We have gotten Feb. Directs pretty consistently, and that is still before the end of the fiscal year (March), so IMO this is the most likely outcome.

@CaleBoi25 I wouldn't be shocked if we had a big February direct with lots of actual Switch 2 games. But I am guessing the initial Switch 2 reveal will be more about the hardware and not e.g. 40 minutes of game announcements. I suspect the February direct will essentially be a normal February direct but with both Switch 1 and Switch 2 games and that will be possible because the actual Switch 2 reveal will be earlier.

Well, I'll post what I reckon the timeline will be. (Obviously, anything earlier would be amazing lol!)

• September Direct (if anything) focusing on up to Spring next year (and the ccassional '2025' title.)
• Nintendo World DK Expansion Direct
• Switch 2 reveal event / Direct in March (launch in September) with a peak at new 3D Mario.
• June Direct featuring Switch 2. More 3D Mario and people will think they know everythng about the game.
• September Direct with final trailer for Mario (and of course they didn't know everything lol.)
• Release. The successor to the best selling console of all time...etc etc

(Worth mentioning - I AM ALWAYS WRONG LOL! But this makes the wait easier to bear o.< )

@Novamii I think if the console is just more a powerful Switch they'd have the reveal as part of a big software focused event instead. A standalone reveal that doesn't have much games runs the risk of being boring considering without the games, a power increase is nothing more than meaningless buzzwords.

Switch had the advantage of there being a gimmick (the ability to switch from docked mode to handheld mode) so the reveal was able to get across the gimmick extremely well with only a few games (4 1st party, 2 3rd party) present.