Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Ralizah Honestly starting to think a lot of people are about to get priced out of the hobby. There's plenty of people that haven't upgraded to the base PS5 because of cost. If PS6 is $700+ minimum? Forget it.

I sincerely hope Switch 2 is $400 and not $500.

I am really having a hard time seeing how the PS5 Pro is going to perform well. I do not want to see consoles fail - but this looks like a very tough sell.

Nintendo would be smart to quickly announce the next console - @link3710 said exactly what I thought after seeing the price point. Show the console, the price (hopefully in the $400 range) with a few 1st party and 3rd party games looking almost as good. That seems like a slam dunk. I believe that Nintendo wants to stay away from the console wars chatter, but now is a great time to really stand out. Sony has done Nintendo a favor if the Switch 2 is launching at a higher price point ($450-$499), it'll be hard to have the Switch 2's price look unreasonable now. Still hoping for $399

I get a feeling Nintendo might actually "low-ball" the prices of their consoles to keep themselves relevant in the space. Especially given their demographic is more in-line with casuals and families than Sony. Sony is pretty much the only successful console left for enthusiasts while the Switch is sort of competing with things like the cell phone and free-to-play games. Competing for this attention, I genuinely feel like their strategy will be eating the loss that comes with manufacturing their consoles whilst recovering it by the sheer amount of systems they'll end up pushing as a result of the games they'll have on display. Especially if the quality of the switch's final years are anything to go off of. I don't see them slowing down with game releases any time soon.

@Lazz yeah, the PS5 pro is crazy over priced. The base PS5 is actually pretty cheap for $400, but I think Nintendo might have to go higher than that. If it will be comparable to a steam deck or maybe even a rog ally in handheld mode, we're looking at $600 or so for its competitors. Now consider that the dock mode is a completely different beast than the afterthought docks for other handhelds. It doesn't just project it onto the screen, but dramatically upscales it to console quality. It would be very hard to justify a $400 price tag for that, especially since Nintendo doesn't like to sell consoles at a loss. I expect Nintendo to low ball the price, but if the system is close to what people are expecting, $500 is the low ball. I could see them going to $400 much more easily than $600 though.

@Sigran102 Well there's a few things that give Nintendo an advantage on pricing. Steam Deck, unlike most consoles, is sold for profit, so Nintendo will be fine there.

But looking at the component costs? The SoC is being custom made by Tegra, so it's likely it'd be cheaper than the multiple manufacturers involved with Steam Deck, though it's hard to say how much. RAM costs have nosedived since the Steam Deck came out, with the rumoured 12GB of RAM costing less than the 4GB in the current Switch did when that launched. Storage (256GB) will be smaller than even the base model Steam Deck, and storage costs have dropped drastically as well. The storage is better performing though, so there's some cost there.

The dock's rumoured microcontroller is basically a mildly updated version of the current one, but it has an ethernet adapter like the Switch OLED, so it's probably around the same cost as the OG Switch's dock was when it launched. Other new parts include a built in microphone jack and microphones in the controllers (very cheap). The screen has had no shipment leaks, so that's a big variable in the price. And while there's no leaks, improved joysticks for the controllers seems super likely, so let's add that as a small cost.

So really it all comes down to the SoC, as overall the price of the rest of the system has likely dropped from the Switch. And without knowing what Nintendo's deal is with Nvidia, that's a real wild card.

So assuming there's no big surprises (which is a big assumption)? A $400 price point could easily be profitable with the rumoured components... assuming they brokered a good enough deal with Nvidia for their chips. Otherwise it'll likely be $450. I don't see $500 as particularly likely based on what's been leaked so far.

The day of announcements begins with MK9 and ends with the next GTA6 trailer

Speaking of Mario Kart, I do wonder if Nintendo could do the Switch 2 reveal without Mario Kart or having MK8 Deluxe used to show off backwards compatibility instead of a new game present.

I hope they don't show off backwards compatibility with Mario Kart 8. At least if they don't intend on showing Mario Kart 9. It would be like Sony showcasing a ps4 game via a presentation for the PS5 pr- wait, never mind Sony actually did that.

@Grumblevolcano Dunno, that may give the wrong impression that this is the successor to the Switch and not just a pro model if they showed MK8. Maybe they just do another 3D Mario showpiece instead like when revealing the Switch.
@VoidofLight Clearly they wanted to use Concord but for some strange reason they couldn’t boot up the game.

@PikminMarioKirby The Echoes of Wisdom overview trailer has arrived.

Considering Grand Fest starts in less than 11 hours, it's a safe guess there's no NSO announcements this week (NSO announcement is usually around 12 hours from now).

@FragRed Switch reveal was BotW, MK8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Mario Odyssey, Skyrim and NBA 2K18. It had that variety of genres, if Switch 2 was to do something similar I think it would be like:

• BotW or Echoes of Wisdom (showcasing backwards compatibility)
• 3D Mario
• Forza Horizon 5 (the Gamescom "one more thing" gives me the impression that we're approaching the next wave of Xbox multiplatform releases) or MK9
• Prime 4 (if the console's being announced in September, it's releasing in Spring 2025 and that means Prime 4 is either very close to Switch 2 launch or a crossgen release)
• FFXVI or Elden Ring (A RPG that definitely can't run on Switch 1)
• One of those popular multiplatform sports games like EA Sports FC/Madden/NBA 2K (Madden would probably stand out the most considering it's not on Switch 1)

Echoes of Wisdom has finally gotten it's overview trailer, which would've potentially happened after a Direct if the Direct included it. Either they wanted the overview trailer out early enough, or we're not getting a Direct this month. This makes a Switch Successor reveal next week seem more likely than ever, however I wouldn't completely rule out a Direct next week

@Grumblevolcano Didn't see that until I posted, my bad

The NSO situation is very interesting. We should be getting one fairly soon but it doesn't seem to likely this week with grand fest, especially if the NSO addition should be announced during when Grand Fest takes place.

Next week seems like the most likely time for an announcement. Not because it's close but because TGS gets in the way after that and once you give that space then we're mid October. Which is possible but..... I feel like November is a bit too close to the silly season so the window is small

If it's not next week or the second half of October we're into next year I feel. Which I'm not too convinced of given I'm thinking a H1 launch. So yeah, if I was guessing at this point if say next week. Same as I would've guessed a couple of weeks ago

.... although it does becomes increasingly harder to stick to your date guessing when it gets closer. The people guessing late March have it easy. They can be right right up until we get an announcement and nobody cares anymore. The more optimistic of us have to constantly stare down our impending incorrectness

@skywake If the Switch Successor reveal is this year, I'd have to say it's either week of September 16th or week of October 7th.

• Late September has EoW and TGS
• Mario Party is taking a good chunk of October (Weeks after will likely be focused on this game Brothership advertising)
• November/December is too close too Holiday season to be a likely contender for announcement (and M&L Brothership releases in November)

That pretty much leaves weeks of Sept. 16 and Oct. 7 as the likely candidates. Of course the reveal could be early next year if we're getting a H2 Switch Successor release, however right now I'd say April seems like the most likely release month, in which a September/October announcement should be most likely.

I still say, that if they announce this year, it’ll be before their museum opens,

.. and then they can have it as an extra reason to visit…

A next week reveal would be great. I'm getting to that point where I'm fully ready to move onto the next system. My switch is quite raggedy and close to the end of its life.

@NintendoByNature My OLED Switch has seen better days. It's gotten pretty warped to the point that the back cover is breaking off a bit and the fan kicks in a lot more than it used to. It actually seemingly completely died on me several months back but then decided to turn back on again after like ten minutes and has been fine since, so hopefully it at least till the next system launches haha.

If Echoes of Wisdom got an overview trailer, I do wonder if Mario Party Jamboree or Brothership will get ones too or if one of them is going to get a special Direct going over them nearing release rather than a general Direct. That August Direct really is making me unsure if a September Direct will happen. Super unsure of a Direct happening this week or this month also cuz of the Grand Festival and stuff.

@BenAV same here. Just hoping it'll be good for next 6-8 months assuming It does launch by then, AND I can get my hands on one. Surprised your OLED is giving you issues since those are what, roughly 4 years old?

New Switch OLED + Mario Wonder + 12 month NSO bundle confirmed for New Zealand & Australia!

That means NSO is still unaccounted for. If there would be a general Switch Direct this month NSO would likely be there.

It releases October 24th and is currently unknown what all regions this will be available at. (Nintendo please give us DLC alongside this)

@PikminMarioKirby At this point there's no chance we're getting a general direct. A Switch 2 reveal? Probably. General direct? Nope. Switch Online is most likely just going to get a trailer randomly dropped in a week or two.