Following the issuance of a state of emergency in seven of Japan's prefectures due to the Coronavirus outbreak – including the game development hubs of Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka – many video game developers and affiliates have announced temporary closures.
As we mentioned in an earlier article, games set to launch in April and May will go ahead as planned, with titles to be published in the summer, and possibly beyond, being pushed back.
Masahiro Sakurai has already announced his team will be working remotely on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, saying:
I'm also going to be working remotely. In other words, I'll be supervising from home. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate needs to maintain extremely tight security and is therefore difficult to work on remotely, but now's the time to do so. Let's work hard and get through this together!
In addition to this, retail stores have confirmed closures. The Nintendo TOKYO store has issued the following statement:
Shibuya PARCO and Nintendo TOKYO will be closed from Wednesday, April 8th to prevent the spread of new coronavirus infections. ... We will inform you about resumption of business with our official Twitter account.
Kirby Café is also closed:
Thank you for visiting Kirby Café. Due to the closure of commercial facilities, Kirby Café and the Kirby Café Store Tokyo will also be closed according to the facilities from Wednesday, April 8th. We will inform you again when we resume business. In addition, customers who have already made reservations during the holiday period will be canceled. We're sorry, but we will not transfer reservations to a new date.
We expect more announcements to follow and will update this post accordingly.
[source cero.gr.jp, via twitter.com, twitter.com]
Comments 46
This is the way. Better safe than sorry. Retro studios will close too i guess
Safety first. Better a few games delayed than not having a life to enjoy them. Almost all European video game developers studios are already closed.
Japan hates China even more 🤯
Bring on the ports and remasters
@sixrings even those need to be rated. So.. this is going to be the end for now for all Japanese developed games. (That haven't been rated)
So what?
Nintendo has not made big announcements.
We don't loose anything special.
The time that sony releasing great games ( final fantasy 7, persona 5 royal, nioh 2, ) and more of great games are coming ( ghost of tsusima, last of us 2) and a new console coming on time, nintendo has not even make a normal direct, that's mean that she has not even make announcements. The only thing tat works on nintendo is indie games and very old games that has been released in other consoles before years. Nintendo as always cheating.
^ Proof Covid-19 attacks the brain
@Scirocco7 You should know that only less than a month ago Nintendo released one of the BIGGEST NEW GAMES on the Switch?!!
Also the lack of a (full) Direct could also be caused by the pandemic. Nintendo clearly waited with releasing big information because of it.
@DinnerAndWine instead of a dislike button we get to like comments like yours. Much better idea nintendolife.
At these times I'm happy to already have over 400 Switch games to choose from. They can take all the time they need to get the situation under control and get back to developing normally, I have plenty to play until then.
@Scirocco7 Nice to know what your priorities in life are, thanks for sharing them.
understandable yes it's likely going to be a very slow and dry year for gaming but it can't be helped
@WiltonRoots
I just said that doesn't matter the closing, because nintendo
has not big announcements.
@sixrings Hm? There’s still a dislike button. Were you suggesting NL get rid of it? 🤷♂️
@Scirocco7 I don't know if you're aware but there's a global crisis going on? People on lockdown? People are dying? But hey, games first I guess...
I have enough good games to get me through at least 2020, probably
‘21 and ‘22 if I scrape the bottom of the barrel. And that’s without buying anything else on the eShop.
"with titles to be published in the summer, and possibly beyond, being pushed back."
And those titles would be...?
Looks like Nintendo outsmarted everyone this time, no new titles means no game delays.
it's akhutually called a "prefecture of emergency" in Nippon.
@BlubberWhale there is a dislike button but it doesn't count multiple dislikes anymore because it could be perceived as online bullying.
@WiltonRoots
EXACTLY, LOCKDOWN!!!
That's why we need fresh video games...
Thank god exists SONY because nintendo has not
something special for our enclosure.
That's what i say from the beginning of conversation. Do i have
to repeat it again?
@Scirocco7 You are delusional. Hahaha. Everything you write is completely false. I had a good laugh reading your comment though. Thanks.
@Scirocco7 "EXACTLY, LOCKDOWN!!!
That's why I need fresh video games..."
/FTFY
Backlogs? Many hundreds of other games long available on eShop? Hobbies besides gaming? Truly extraterrestrial notions, I agree.
@Cosats
My biggest false was switch.
And the biggest false of nintendo is the delusion she makes on fanboys.
@Scirocco7 Well there's a simple answer to that. Sell your Switch instead of crying to us about it, none of us here give a toss.
@WiltonRoots
it's not worth for selling. I have alredy give it for free to my cousin.
3 years i played only 2good games. Except Mario odyssey and zelda botw i remember only very expensive indie and old games that i have already played them on my ps4.
@sixrings drop the Wii Punchout! on the Switch yesterday!
@Scirocco7,
Thanks for the info fella, and the point was?.
@sixrings Oh OK, cool. Same with likes right? Or maybe if I refresh the page I can like the same comments again. 🤔
@BlubberWhale you can get multiple likes because it's good to boost people's self esteem even if the comments are just trolling xbox or PlayStation. But you can only get one dislike so that your feelings aren't hurt even if you're saying reckless things.
@BlubberWhale Dislikes still work, they just don't have a number on them any more. Once a person gets a certain amount of dislikes on a post, it becomes hidden.
Edit: you can't like a post more than once.
@rjejr was probably why they did a Direct Mini and not focused on anything past June. Better to wait to see where things are by June and hopefully remain on track for beyond, better to announce games for after June then have to delay things further because of COVID-19... I mean Sony has already started delaying things with Last of Us Part 2, so Nintendo probably has an idea of what could be delayed and are probably playing it safe.
@nhSnork haha I still have a number of Wii U, 3DS and Wii games I've yet to get around to let alone Switch. Also I have a stack of books waiting to get read. Perfect chance to get caught up!
People complaining about lack of new games or delays may need to re-evaluate things.
@WiltonRoots I had no idea that was the new policy. I could live with that but where was that explained.
@sixrings I saw it somewhere in the forums, might have been in the feedback section.
@sandman89 Japan doesn't hate China. It's the other way around.
@Scirocco7 Not "just one", one. And I'm already calling it the game of the year. Health is more important than games. We're living in maybe the darkest hours of our modern society. And you complain about a smaller amount of games? You really need you priorities checked, and while you're at it.. your head as well.
Better safe than sorry. I'd rather games be delayed if the end result is less people falling ill. Lives are more important.
...Plus, I'm set on games for awhile.
@Scirocco7 so this users post was up, then deleted or hidden and now back up. This is the new dislike button policy?
Anyone selfish and short-sighted enough to be annoyed by the inconvenience of these very necessary delays should think but for a moment of losing any number of Japan's great game developers to coronavirus.
Right, Sony's release schedule is on track, that's why they just delayed their biggest game of the year indefinitely. 🙄
Sadly, this pandemic is affecting the entire industry but health and safety of people is more important.
I'm glad they are being honest and responsible. All 3ds and switch users understand the worldwide situation and know it's going to delay and obstruct things in unpredictable ways. Work remotely and roll out whatever updates/patches and games you can and that's all 3DS and Switch fans could possibly ask for in this new wacky world
@Investor9872 is it?
Yup, let's destroy millions of lives to protect a few thousand and send our economy into the next great depression. Smart!
People get sick, sometimes they die, it is highly unfortunate... But shutting down an entire nation is the equivalent of burning down a house because you found a spider in it. Sadly there's only a few of us saying this, as most people want a free vacation, which in my opinion is the greater evil of the two.
@GoblinKing86 it's not about dying. It's about hospitals that don't have the capacities to treat people the way they deserve. We are talking about people (like your parents or a friend's parent) lying on their chests half-naked dying alone in the hallway with no chance to say good-bye to their beloved and no chance for the children to get in touch. THAT is the nightmare we are facing. Get it in perspective.
Edit: and we talk about the souls of the clinic personal getting scarves they will never truly recover from.
@Scirocco7
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/games/2020/apr/03/the-last-of-us-part-ii-delayed-playstation-sony
So tell me how the last of us 2 isn't being delayed again?
@Scirocco7 well last of us 2 has been delayed and ghosts will probably be a Ps5 launch title. Of this goes on too long the Ps5 might be delayed a couple months
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