Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

The 2 month minimum announcement in advance for retail titles suggests the only Nintendo published retail release we're getting before October is Bravely Default II if anything.

Well, I wonder if covid did cause delays they don't want to admit, for whatever reasons, @dionysos283 .... Not to say they had lots planned but more than have appeared Would that need less notice, @Grumblevolcano .... ? Hopefully, it'll get a release date announced soon, anyway

@Grumblevolcano
I thought retail titles need to be announced at least one month in advance?
I'm still hoping for an announcement in early August with a release date in September.

@BruceCM Bravely Default II would need less notice because it's already been officially announced.

@Grumblevolcano
But if Bravely Default II comes out soon, why didn't they announce it at the last partner showcase?

@dionysos283 Well if the partner showcases are monthly, August's partner showcase could be focused on Square Enix like how July's was focused on Atlus. Would make sense given Square Enix said they'd announce a bunch of stuff in July and August though all we've gotten announced in July is the 2 games from the Xbox event (Dragon Quest XI S for PC/PS4/XB1 and Balan Wonderland for PC/PS4/XB1/Switch).

@Grumblevolcano
Good point!
But I still think it would have to be announced in early August for it to still be released in September. And two partner showcases within 2 weeks seems a little strange to me. But at this point no one can predict Nintendo I guess.

Yeah, just wondering how much less .... Still a month? & it depends how they're getting on with that but we should hear sooner or later, I suppose

@Chunkboi79
If Nintendo wasn’t going to be ready this year even before the work at home then it’s pretty strange given it’s the launch year for PS5 and XBSX.

@Grumblevolcano

So based on the 2 month advance announcement we shouldn’t be expecting the rumored Mario collection to be released in two months?

@dionysos283 1 for the date, but 2 for its existence. Otherwise, the game would almost inevitably end up leaked due to manufacturing concerns.

It's an exclusive. They'll present it along with their first party stuff.

@dionysos283

I think Nintendo will have stuff for the holiday period as it's traditionally a very profitable time for them, their main issue over the years is not having a strong title for the first part of the year, but this time Animal crossing has come to help with this, as for them releasing more games, I am not so sure it matters outside the core people like ourselves craving information and more titles, as any potential Switch owner will see a console with tonnes of content for it, and despite it being a slow year in our eyes the Switch has still been flying of store shelves and been out of stock in most countries, I doubt the release of the two machines from Sony or Microsoft will affect this is the slightest.

@johnvboy
I was talking about third party support, which was a big problem for Nintendo in the Wii U era. I think it's reasonable to assume that third party support will decrease with the arrival of the more powerful consoles. A successful gaming platform needs a steady supply of good games; and if third parties won't do it, Nintendo has to jump in. That's all I'm saying. And if Nintendo already prepares for this scenario, they are doing the right thing, I guess.

@dionysos283

We can tell ourselves that third party support is important to Nintendo, hell they can even say it is themselves, but in reality it's Nintendo's first party titles that have always pushed sales of their consoles.

Plus we must not underestimate the importance of the indie titles to Nintendo, the Switch has a very wide demographic and as much as we see a lot of this as shovel ware, they do keep a steady stream of games coming to the console.

And that's why first party support will become even more important, when third party support decreases. 😉

@dionysos283,

Totally agree with you, but I still feel for potential Switch owners there are a lot of games available, from my personal point of view I would like some more games this year.

Me too, man.
I was just cooking up a theory on why Nintendo would purposefully hold back games in 2020 (since even before the pandemic almost nothing was announced). But I could be completely wrong and they really just don't have any games, which I find hard to believe.

@dionysos283,

I would find it very difficult to actually believe they have no games, I can see how they could have been delayed slightly due to the pandemic, and Nintendo have just decided to deliver game drops like they did with "Paper Mario", as a full direct is just not feasible due to many staff working from home.

@dionysos283 I'd trade the entire switch third party line up for most wanted and black ops.