We Won't Get A Nintendo Direct This June For E3, Says Report

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest - I imagine a lot of their schedules and plans have been disrupted by coronavirus.

Well, Nintendo does still have the news feature on Switch. They could just dump announcements on there.

Damn, the mystery of the Mario remasters may have to remain a mystery for a while longer.

It stinks. You would like for announcements to be centralized in one particular place. But I much rather have the announcements happen however they happen rather than not at all. So if it has to be a surprise tweet or eShop drop, so be it.

This is fair enough. Health > Entertainment. The next Direct will be glorious. Let's hope it's not too distant.

Imagine how this news would've gone down if the Mini Direct didn't happen...

Whatever, we get the Smash news in June anyway.

Explains why we’ve been getting little trickles of info instead. It’s just weird times right now. It’s understandable.

It wouldn't surprise me if announcements from many in the gaming industry slow down for awhile. We're all currently in an unprecedented situation where there's a lot of uncertainty. It'll be hard to commit to a lot of deadlines as a result.

@Savino I hope you're wrong about Metroid but you're probably not.

Yeah that doesnt seem good at all. Was really expecting a direct around e3 time from them. Really hoping that the Mario rumors at least are true, at this point there isnt a single 1st party Switch game thats on my to buy list for the rest of the year and the only one We've bought this year is AC.

I'm not worried about the state of the direct. The people are safe, and it's a digital presentation, so we should be fine

Wouldn't be surprised given the March Direct Mini and recent release date announcements like Deadly Premonition 2.

Well apparently Xbox is doing theirs earlier than June. I'm cool with having it more spread out this year!

Doesn't surprise me at all. All their games are probably being delayed, and might end up as Switch 2 titles anyway (I highly believe Switch is on the way out and they are developing a succesor).

I still hope they show something in Juli, even if it doesn't get released this year or on the current Switch. Please a little bit of Zelda. Show that you are still alive, because its awfully quit. And all those Animal crossing articles on this site: A sad way to fill the site (well for people who don't care about Animal crossing, like me). Isn't there a other way to fill the site, with some interesting stuff?

"Plot twist: we get one in May instead"

Lol, it is Nintendo so it could easily happen. E3 is dead anyway. The big company's hate it. E3 was destined to be very bad this year (with all the influencer stuff). And Microsoft already sad they won't attend events BEFORE Juli 2021, so they won't attend E3 2021 either. That might mean the other's won't attend either.

What would be the point? ESA has cancelled E3's Digital Event. There is no particular reason for Nintendo to announce anything in June, when they're not previewing anything to the press. E3 has been an event that became so large that it counteracts the way Nintendo typically approaches their media releases. This is a company that has grown to not disclose content until it is less than 2 months away, as seen with Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing, Ring Fit Adventure, Nintendo Labo and probably many more titles in the future.

Now that this hurdle is out of the way, it gives Nintendo further excuse to hold the cards in their hands even tighter. Even when it came to E3 2019, you can see that their Direct was very Third Party heavy, with the Breath of the Wild sequel being the only First Party Game Announcement.

What a shame. I’m sure the pandemic is causing delays, and that is fine.

I’m just disappointed

@Henmii
The current Switch is most certainly not on its way out.

This sucks, but ultimately, human lives > video ame trailer reel.

This could mean a May or July direct...or another mini-direct

Once those games keeps getting announced. I don't need a direct..

If I'm not mistaken, Nintendo typically doesn't bring a lot out in the June or July months. They can afford to kick this down the road a bit.

I know people are talking about a next-gen Switch, but I can't see Nintendo doing this considering the fact you can't find a Switch anywhere. In fact, this may push the next upgrade out a year further.

As for games, I agree with many on here that Nintendo did not have a lot to show here for the remainder of the year. 3D World will show up, and if the rumors are true with the other Remasters, this could get them through the end of the year.

However if we get past this virus thing in late summer, Nintendo could forfeit more share of the market than it would have if it had a holiday game.

@HobbitGamer Nobody reads that though.

@Henmii Why would they already be developing a successor to the switch when it is selling better than ever? They could just release a switch pro instead. Plus they have already said they want a 7-10 year life cycle for the switch.

100% expected. As long as these AC updates keep comin I’m good

Better to not make promises when you don't know if you'll be able to keep them. I know people are probably growing emotionally dead to all the COVID-19 news but that doesn't mean the situation has gotten any better. On the contrary, it still appears the worst is yet to come...

Still, I don't imagine Nintendo will leave us high and dry. This would be the perfect time to toss us some more Wii U ports to hold us over. Or more NSO stuff.

Well...[expletive]

@Q1220G it’s gonna have a long life, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working on hardware. They are never not working on hardware.

There won't be a next gen until at least 2025. Metroid will still be a Switch title (launch 2022), Breath of the Wild 2 will be 2021.

@Q1220G Nintendo starts developing the next hardware the minute the current gen is shipped to the stores. So yeah, I'm 100% sure that they are already working on the next gen Nintendo console. But true, we won't see it for years.

I actually think the Switch would've been released in 2019 if the Wii U had been a success. with the next gen coming in 2025.

Nintendo may not have anything ready for showing yet. This Coronavirus is really wreaking havoc everywhere.

@BenAV Man I hope it's May. I know a lot of gamers are ok w/ Nintendo waiting out the pandemic, but maybe they are unaware that the rest of the gaming industry is not. TLoU2 and Ghost are both dated for the next 2 months and Ubi just unveiled AC Valhalla.

May for Nintendo is port after port after port. June, July, Aug etc I can't even name a game. We are now in year 4 of Switch, 3DS hasn't had a new game of any significance in a couple of years now, so where are the Switch games?

They don't need to date them, but they should be able to show something from Zelda BotW2, Bayonetta 3, any Mario remasters, any sequels like ARMS, Mario Kart, Spaltoon. They must be working on some new games, but all we see are AC and Pokemon DLC.

PS5 and X Series X will be soaking up all the news cycles soon, Nintneod shouldn't wait too much longer. Heck, give me the next Labo project, or a plastic Switch VR holder. Something.

Yes, we are in a pandemic, but Ubi, Sony, MS seem to be making an effort at least.

Meh. Xenoblade can still tide them over through June and July is by no means too late. Health comes first, people... Health comes first.

(Plus, June might just be too close to the PS5/Series X info dumps apparently happening in May for any Nintendo news to get traction.)

This is nonsense, no reason for them not to have a Direct. Three House was out of the question, of course. But no excuse to not have a direct. Feel like they are just taking advantage of this Pandemic at this point, which would be disgraceful but a lot of companies have shown to do so, and Nintendo is no different.

That's fine. I can wait.

"Partner developers", "trusted sources", "reputable leakers" and so on and so forth yet again. I even clicked the Venture Beat link and scanned the article in hope for a single bloody signed quotation. Nope.

Rather than updating us on further news, NL, maybe just report actual news as they come? You'd think living in the age when fabricating rumours is easier than making paper planes would leave news media less hungry for such slop, yet here we are.

@rjejr My guess is Nintendo had planned for a very light 2020 last year (relying on Animal Crossing like they relied on Smash in 2018) and the pandemic delayed what little other stuff they had planned. The September 2019 Direct and the Game Awards 2019 made it seem that way at least.

I've got plenty to play for the next few months, anyway. Good opportunity to replay some old favorites.

I'm disappointed, but I understand.

Now I know what it feels like to be a sports fan this year.

Firstly, it goes without saying that this is understandable given the circumstances.

I feel pretty sad about this however. Marking my calendar to look forward to a big, once-a-year Nintendo Direct was like my Fifa. Engaging in forums and comment sections for reactions and discussions felt like a communal affair as well.

One thing I dearly hope is that Nintendo doesn't completely drop the big once-a-year Directs. It may be more efficient for business, but it feels like just one more thing that Satoru Iwata loved that is being left behind and forgotten.

I can't help but keep comparing the Iwata/Furukawa paradigm to the Steve Jobs/Tim Cook paradigm. Both visionaries died before their time, leaving the company in the hands of CEO's who worry more about profits than principles.

@RickD
Metroid Prime 4's cancellation reset was so public that I expect Nintendo to be taking extraordinary measures to develop very quickly. My assumptions are either a winter 2021 or March 2022 release. I just really hope the rumored Metroid Prime Trilogy releases this year.

I believe this to be true so it does suck, very unlikely we will get anything new this year but this is the reality of the global pandemic effecting Nintendo and all of the gaming industry

Well this information ruined my morning. The Coronavirus is taking over our lives and ruining it forever! I was really hoping we'd see another teaser for BOTW 2, or any of the other games. This is really starting to tick the annoyance out of me! If people of China didn't have to eat something badly or if people from the US didn't travel to China and then come back, infecting millions of people, we would've been okay. But now, this is going to be the start of a whole new era when this is all over

Whether we get a direct or not, the games won't be better, and won't be produced any faster. So I'll survive.

@HobbitGamer @TAndvig their issue isnt't WHERE to broadcast the Direct, they have Official Switch, Youtube and even Twitch channels. The issue is in the video itself (it's usually long, usually filmed with a host and that demands a crew, and resources and a lot of people grouping up together), and, of course, the contents. Possibly everything they were going to showcase has been delayed, or at least their physical productions have been delayed, so they might not even have a reason to host anything if they're not gonna release anything. I do expect a packed 2021 for Nintendo as this point, though.

I have doubts this rumor is true. Stay at home orders are not likely to delay videogame development that long, unless they completely halt production, which I doubt they would do, as they are a publicly traded company

Just send us over the trailers, Nintendo, I'll whip something up for ya.
Won't slap any release dates on em either. Cheers

@UmbreonsPapa I assume one thing that is (mostly) certain is for filmed segments of presentations to be absent until COVID is over .

Pretty certain the last news people want is "Miyamoto/Sakurai/etc has died after contracting COVID from film crew/interviewers while preparing the last Direct".

I was hoping that there would be something before June.

@ummyeahnintendo depends . Ironically enough I suspect it's indeed very much larger studios that are going to be affected by COVID. With larger studio having more of an office culture demanding that people show up at the actual office "so manahers/etc know they're not slacking off", infrastructure and work organization shift to work-from-home might be that much harder to pull off. Especially when we're talking about teams in the multiple dozens or hundred employees and the coordination effort it represented even when they all worked from the same office.

Contrast with the many indie where ironically their smaller teams and budget often meant that remote work and online coordination/group calls was often their default way of doing things before even all this pandemic stuff.

Not sure why they couldn't do it..

Metroid is out in September, relax everyone I have it on good authority and we get a new Excite racing game in October. Nintendo Direct is May 16th. Teaser for a new F zero at the end. (Carries on dreaming)

Aside from animal crossing, Nintendo has been Wii U territory for what seems since last November. PlayStation isn’t using this excuse while dumping tons of quality games. Yet Nintendo sheep on this forum give them a pass. Coronavirus or not, Nintendo wasn’t coming out with *****

With all that's going on, E3 off and Sony and Microsoft doing their own thing with their console reveals, there was no reason for Nintendo to commit to do something in June. They're now free to do their own thing on their own timescale, without the pressure of putting together a big E3 Direct.

@FargusPelagius assuming this is true, do we get any more BOTW2 news? hell, i'd even take a mention!

@Mother_Fan I was joking, but yeah BotW 2 gets a snippet, which confirms it is 2 player co op.

Let's all give Nintendo a pass because they love us so much while greedy xbox and PlayStation release new systems with new games as a way to take people's last remaining covid dollars.

@Big_Nook I can see why you might not care, but honestly after Xenoblade Chronicles, Clubhouse Games, and Deadly Premonition 2, we don't know of anything coming out this year. The Mario remasters are a rumor. Personally I'd like to know what is planned for later this year, even if it doesn't happen. Could a new Mario Kart happen (that isn't a re-release of a 2014 game)? Ultimately it's up to Nintendo, but it's very uncharacteristic of Nintendo to go so long without some kind of information to get us hyped about what is coming (eventually).

@sixrings I'm a pretty dedicated Nintendo fan, but still plan on grabbing the new consoles sooner than later, mainly to play enhanced versions of older games for now. I would have been way more excited to be picking up a Nintendo Switch Pro for the same reasons, but it seems like Nintendo just doesn't care to get us hyped for anything lately. Just sad. It would be nice if Nintendo gave us any indication of what they have planned for the next six to twelve months, because at this point we don't have anything to look forward to. Sure Metroid Prime 4 and BOTW 2 are coming, but I don't see these happening for at least another two or three years.

Remasters of some Mario games would be a great May announcement possibly for a summer or fall release. But at the same time it would be nice to know if anything is tentatively planned for later this year. If Mario remasters are announced in May, I think that would be enough to hold (at least me) over until a later summer announcement of what we could look forward to this fall or winter.

Who would've guessed.

I am not surprised by this at all. Pretty common sense if one just sit back and think with their 2 pound of fat in their head.

Perhaps we'll get a Mario Direct in May where we'll see that All Stars 2 and so. That would make a lot of sense.
As for the third party games, they'll probably just announce their stuff outside a Direct, like Deadly Premonition 2 has done.

wow, I thought they'd at least have something to show around e3. But, with this virus baloney, I get it.

Ultimately, it is what it is. This is disappointing news but I'm sure Nintendo is doing their best. I suspect that we'll get little(r) announcements throughout the Spring and Summer. I believe that we are all waiting (hoping) for that big, blockbuster announcement. What will it be? Who knows. But we need something!

@sixrings I hope you're trolling and not being serious...

This is understandable. I just wish Nintendo had not given us so little to go by post-last E3. The September Direct was not much, and the Mini-Direct was especially not much. Because of how poor their showings have been as of late, it feels like Nintendo didn't have much to show for this year to begin with.

Seems we get increases in DLC per CEO Doug, but unstated we will get a decrease in directs and be more like Xbox or PS with their game reveals.

@Big_Nook same :/

@g_ruz I think we still could.. Sakurai has been doing announcements outside of Nintendo Directs for a while, so the difference might just be that it's in his living room

@g_ruz well, I guess I should stop waiting for pikmin 4 news and events and other mediums that will get us that info...

I came back to see how many comments show a general misunderstanding of supply chains, economics, and social components. I'm not disappointed.

@GrailUK Judging by some of the comments in here it's the other way round....

@HobbitGamer There's some very sad people posting in here.

@Savino hopefully they spent a lot of time seeing what worked in Metroid Prime 1, 2 and 3 and what could've been done better especially in 3.

@Ulysses hopefully they give us a remaster of the Prime Trilogy but Nintendo doesn't really care about the series e.g. Other M, Federation Force, doing nothing for Metroid's 30th anniversary.

Time for change. The format became boring when the suits at Sony copied it.

Surprise us again Nintendo.

No industry unnaffected by the virus, amazing..

@RileyR you're right. Be different for different sake. Just how xbox live is boring Nintendo made online better by being different.

@sixrings lol you're so sarcastic.

@WiltonRoots I find social distancing is effective against them. If you ignore them, they go away.

Well at least they may make announcements out of the blue I guess

@Savino Nintendo says it wants the Switch to have a six year lifespan. But yeah, I think that the rest of the year, as far as Nintendo releases will be sparse.

Switch is not on its way out. Sales need to have peaked before that happens and it’s still selling out. I was talking to a publisher today who predicted it could have a Game Boy-sized lifespan

Well, that’s annoying... the only time we know for sure we get a direct, and... we’re not getting one... the drought continues

@Nico07 I think a December release of MK9 would be a good system seller or at minimum, something to keep Switch owners content with the system and not venture out for the next best thing

To know the next one will feature Zelda botw2...that will be so good!

@Dringo would be cool if the next gen Nintendo system was more powerful, but allowed for a gamepad like interface with the Switch or even in some cases allow the Switch to stream games like the PS4 and Vita.... Then the Switch would be a de facto handheld and the new console will be a proper console to handle current gen games

The biggest problem is that Xenoblade Chronicle DE is the biggest known quantity of the horizon right now, and that's the end of May. That will probably be my favorite game this year, and I'm enjoying the Switch backlog and Warframe in the meantime. But I can understand how this can be frustrating.

I'm sure they'll find a way to announce things, even if it is not a Direct. I'm assuming the main problem is that release dates are hard to confirm right now. They probably want to announce things closer to launch at this point.

Honestly, this wouldn’t surprise me at all.

And I’m actually okay with that because my current backlog is insane, and I don’t need the onslaught of temptation to make things worse. As of right now, I still need to finish:

-Shenmue 1, 2, 3 (PS4)
-Luigi’s Mansion 3
-Pokémon Sword
-Final Fantasy 7R
-All 3 games in Collection of Mana
-Link’s Awakening Remake
-Dragon Quest 11 (Switch)
-Wolfenstein (Switch)

I also wanted to spend time with Animal Crossing, Mario Maker 2’s latest update, etc..

I am completely and totally drowning in stuff to play....oh, and I have Streets of Rage 4 heading my way too.

That stinks. Hopefully there's something scheduled before hand or not too long after. Its my favorite time of year.

@RileyR what exactly are they supposed to surprise us with?

Maybe people are giving Nintendo a free pass because there's something happening out of their control and the future is still uncertain... Just a thought.

I don’t really understand why they can’t show a direct. I mean they only need someone working from home that can edit a load of videos together. Why does the virus prevent that? I mean they could send the videos to me and I’ll edit it for them!

It would make sense if they don’t want to show anything if the reason is they don’t know when the games will release but otherwise I’m stumped...

@Henmii The Switch has only been out for four years. Do you really think Nintendo would be that dumb to move on already? The millions that have bought a Switch would riot in the streets.

@GrandScribe new ways to reveal games.

@WiltonRoots I agree but it would be nice to hear something from them, even if it is "hey we are a bit behind because of covid-19" but they've been completely silent.

@RileyR like a reveal party. Maybe a balloon can just come out of a box. Donkey Kong balloon. Omg a new Dk game. Soccer balloon a new striker. This would be so creative people would love Nintendo for it.

@sixrings lol that sounds a bit silly actually. Funnyman!

@BenAV That would be cool but I doubt it.

ACNH couldn't have released at a better time, for what it's worth. It's the perfect type of game to devour countless hours of your time when you're shut-in or waiting for the next major release.

I understand and agree with Nintendo's decision to protect the health of their employees, but this obviously hurts, especially with their 2020 release schedule beyond Xenoblade Chronicles DE pretty much nonexistent (until they announce something). But hopefully that delayed Direct and the extra time will enable them to blow our socks off with more amazing first-party games when it does arrive.

That would really suck. Although I won't miss e3 in the long run it was the only time of year we were garunteed a direct

It's nice to see most posting have their heads on correctly. To the rest: Our global economy is tanking in real time while we face hundreds of thousands dead or displaced. But sure, Nintendo are lazy or something. Yikes.

Writing the following under the assumption that this is true (It's ultimately a rumor until June passes):

The year was looking pretty bottom heavy in terms of releases, like other years recently, but Nintendo delaying things kind of throws me off. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Animal Crossing and Xenoblade Chronicles are by no means small titles, and there are other games like Deadly Premonition 2 and Ninjala that should at least carve out their niche's, but it feels like AC was the big blockbuster of the first half of the year. I expected some sort of announcement to come for E3, but with that and businesses thrown off by the virus and the economy's state, it's understandable that some preparations were delayed. They should have announcements planned for E3 that they could recycle, but I imagine they planned them for worldwide announcements, rather than just Nintendo Directs (they're big in their own way, E3 is just the best time to get the casual crowd's attention).

Personally, I think there's still a chance, mainly because Nintendo's got two VERY big releases in June: the Pokemon DLC, and the Smash DLC. Those will very easily grab a lot of attention, and they've both gotten release dates. I know they're easier to sell than new games, but the hype they have would help bring eyes to a Direct that showed off a ton of new releases.

Either way, hoping for the best. No one can blame them for being cagey with what's going on right now, I just hope they push some older titles for people who haven't played them yet-it is backlog season right now

@Optimist80 I mean I'm sure there will be some sort of statement soon, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out as part of their annual report next week.

@TheDanslator no one is saying that.

Man, this year keeps getting worse and worse...

@graysoncharles true especially when it involves a franchise a company isn't known for showing much love to.

@Henmii absolutely not. Do you think they'll leave 50+ million users behind just to make a Switch 2?

Apart from the fact that there won't be a Direct, this could mean a lot of things or maybe nothing.

Could mean, no game announcements or they could just announce the games without a Direct.
Could mean, no more major games in 2020, or maybe not, because those games would be very far in development already and they can bugfix from homeoffice.
...

Lots of possibilities and we can't possibly know, so at this point I take it as it is said: Probably no Direct in June, that is all.
Apart from that, nothing would really surprise me either.

We might not have a direct, but we may still get announcements in a different way.

I still hope to see either botw 2 or bayonetta 3 next christmas, fingers crossed

@nhSnork so much freaking this.
But one thing I've learned from this so-called "news outlet" is that they don't care about their reporting in the least, they just grab a bunch of tweets and rumors wholesale from other sites and call it a day.

Hell, they don't seem to even pay any attention to the comment sections, let alone moderate them.
If they did, they'd see our complaint and wouldn't let dumpster fires like that Ion Fury controversy grow in the first place. But hey, anything for that sweet, sweet engagement, right?

Yeah I don't really care. I have Animal Crossing and Mario Maker, and Xenoblade is out in less than a month. I'm good for a loooong time, homie. Public health is infinitely more important than video games.

@rockodoodle I completely agree. And if they can't make an end of year release letting us know for a March 2021 release would work for me. It's just strange the way Nintendo is sharing so little since this past September's Direct. I think most of us are okay with giving them sufficient time to create new games, but the lack of any details on anything coming up is a little concerning and very out of place for how they have been for the past 20 years or so.

Disappointed, but not surprised. Safety first

Due to the Internet age, we as a people have become so used to having announcement/ trailers etc from Game producers that to be deprived of it is like an addiction withdrawal....

My way to deal with it is to remember (because I'm OLD) is that when I was young in the 90's , game information only comes from game magazines and those were only available monthly or when I had enough cash saved up to buy them and I did not really need to be spoonfed informations about new games coming out all the time...I just focus on playing what I have and what I can get.

@Savino I’m hoping Odyssey 2 is close to completion but that may be wishful thinking

Nintendo is getting me salty, especially when you know MS is announcing the games for its next gen on the 7th this month and that Last of us 2 and Ghost just got release dates. Nintendo is hiding behind covid when they had nothing planned for 2020 from the start (except ACNH). And only unreasonable fanboys in the comments think it is justified and even “are happy” that they get no games... I still hope for some good quality ports (hopefully better than the crap 2K pulled with Borderlands). Maybe we will get a big announcement like Witcher 3 last year.

We may still get a Smash and Pokemon Direct in June to make up for it.

I bet this report is false. They already said we are getting a Smash announcement in June, it will probably be part of the E3 Direct.

Wait what? Ok I guess I get it with businesses closed and dev studios on skeleton crews. It hurts though. Still safety first.

@massi914,

Yes, if they can make 60+ million with a new one!

But seriously, here's why I think there will be a Switch 2. They have to counter the upcoming consoles. Not because the graphical devide might become to big persee (though that may also be a point) but to keep interest. People always go for the newest stuff. The indies might flock to the new consoles. And recently I heard the Switch and Switch game demand went a bit down. But of course the demand is very high again at the moment. My guess is that Switch 2 (if it exists) was planned for holiday 2020, with botw2 as a launch-title (maybe a double-release like the original botw and Twilight princess). Metroid prime 4 maybe a year later. Its already rumored that Metroid prime 4 is to powerful for the current Switch. And there are rumors of a Switch with a double-screen. Of course everything might be delayed now anyway because of the virus.

Whatever turns out to be true, I am sure we won't hear much from Nintendo this year. And they won't release much this year either. Thank goodness I have my backlog.

Maybe they'll have a mini-Direct before June then. It seems those mini-Direct had more news in them than the actual big direct.

I think we all know that E3 and anything connected with it has been cancelled, we had known this for sometime.

But a Nintendo Direct can be planned for anytime, so forget E3, but when is the next Direct?

I think Nintendo has little in the way of releases this year, AC was their big first half year release. The Pro was going to be the big E3 announcement which will now be held over till next year together with the Mario games. Maybe a new Paper Mario for Christmas, but what else?

I don't think Nintendo will risk a sales dip for any new released at the moment, with shops not open to sell physical copies.

@zool
So they won’t release anything in order to not have disappointing sales ? This is flawed logic. If they don’t release anything, they won’t sell anything and the switch will therefore stop selling. If they follow your logic, Sony and Microsoft are gonna tear them a new one.

@MrAsild it is a question of maximising profits. Hold off for bigger returns later. Movies with spring release dates have been held back until later in the year. The new James Bond is an example.

Lots of gamers..... or should I say casual gamers buy from shops, they Impulse buy and they don't download games or read reviews and don't buy on. line. That I would think is a big slice of potentially lost profit.

Nintendo is good at holding back release dates for their games, until they think they will achieve the best sales opportunity, Zelda for example.

@SortingHat I agree with your point about BoTW. Nintendo should have anticipated the sales, after all I doubt whether they have lost money on any Zelda or Mario games. Work should have started on a sequel even before BoTW was released. And we could be playing 2 now.

To be honest I couldn't care less if all I got was 20 seconds of quickfire pictures of game titles or "New Mario game (tentative title), new fire emblem game (tentative title), bayonetta 3 still alive, aiming 2020/2021, botw2 doing well, on track!". I just want to know their plans.

I'm not one of the people who have problems waiting for the actual games or care about WHEN they release. What I want to know is WHAT releases, and whether it releases (or aims to release) within the next 12 months or if its far off.

It's not a hard thing to show.

"At least with lockdown I can watch their June Direct live for the first time since 2015." I remember thinking to myself.

I don't have great luck watching the June Direct live.

@zool
I don't think Nintendo wants to rush BOTW2, unless they want to produce an inferior sequel to one of their best games.

The pandemic probably isn't helping that games development either. Any performance capture or voice-over work has likely been put on hold for the moment, not to mention the WFH struggles for a game of such scale.

@westman98 of course, I agree. But my point was that we could be playing BoTW 2 now, if 2 had been in production much earlier.

@zool
It probably started development right or at least very soon after the first game shipped.

@Grumblevolcano "Nintendo had planned for a very light 2020 last year"

But why? Why would they plan for a light 4th year of their only console? (I consider Switch Lite to still be Switch, same games.)

The reason they combined home and handheld development was so there was no lapses in games, not having to split games between 3DS and Wii U, so NO DROUGHTS. This is about as drought as it gets.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/01/nintendo_unifying_handheld_and_console_divisions_in_business_restructure

Yes the pandemic is making things difficult on everyone right now, but Sony, Ubi, MS are still talking. There are still games coming. Ninty really has nothing after May that I'm aware of. And Nintendo had to know for years now that either 2019 or 2020 was going to see the release of new consoles by Sony and MS, and once it looked likely that 2020, not 2019, was going to be that year, well they should have been planning a super huge year, not a light year, for 2020 to help stave off the competition. Only a suicidal company would plan a light year filled w/ AC updates and Pokemon DLC in the face of 2 new home console launches.

So I'm not buying the "light year" explanation. As per the Wii U droughts it's more "making games in HD is hard" whining on Nintneod's part. And yes, it is hard, but this is your 2nd HD console now, that excuse no longer flies. Sure, AC is going great, Pokemon DLC will sell, but that isn't going to cut it for the holidays against new hardware. If that new hardware launches this year. And holiday isn't just December, it's Sept, Oct, Nov too, all of those months needs games, and we don't know what they are. Hopefully Platinum can come through and Bayonetta 3 for Halloween at least, even if Nintendo can't do their jobs.

Though I suppose if their job is SM Galaxy 1&2 in Sept, SM Sunshine in Oct and SM Odyssey 2 or DLC in Nov their job is already done. But it's been over a month now since the VGC story made the rounds, and people treat it like it's official (including my kids), but it isn't official, it's only speculation. Over a month and Nintnedo hasn't even made those remasters official yet. What are they waiting for?

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/03/nintendo_to_remaster_most_of_super_mariors_35-year_catalogue_for_switch_in_2020_new_report_says

Sorry, as always, I find being a Nintneod fan to be quite exasperating at times. They have it all, in the lead, but they risk losing it. Remember "Gods & Monsters", Ubisofts game on Switch that was supposed to release in Feb? All I see now are stories about AC:V and Watch Dogs, neither of which are on Switch, both of which like to promote 4k and HDR. Nintendo is the one and only handheld, so they own that market, but the home console market is moving on this year. Well really more next year, no X Series X exclusives this year, but the attention will be on them, Switch relegated to the handheld port machine for older games. Nintendo needs to step up.

@rjejr Nintendo's learned from their mistakes in the Wii U era, realizing that the lineup surrounding a hardware release has to be strong. 2017 was crazy for Switch (base Switch model released in March), so was June - November 2019 (Switch Lite released in September).

So I think there will be a new Switch model released either in 2021 or 2022 (I'd guess original plans were 2021 but may be delayed to 2022 because of the pandemic) and Switch basically gets a repeat of 2017 or the 2nd half of 2019 then.

This would also come in line with Nintendo's mindset of "we do not compete with Sony and Microsoft".

What? Work-from-home hurdles should be non-existent in the first place, they are supposed to make things easier, a revolution!
Couldn't they just reveal their unannounced titles no matter how far they are? I mean, third parties on the other hand, they will be announcing games out of nowhere... that actually sounds exciting. We've been getting surprising announcements the last few weeks like Crysis Remastered, Jump Force... now that's how you create excitement.

And here's something they didn't mention: Anything could change anytime.
If Nintendo feels they should do something this June, then that means we could get at least two or three new first-party games to be unveiled during June, and make an exception to the rule of only announcing games close to release date just for once. It will always be better than nothing.

Haha... what did I just did. I interpreted this rumour my way. You should probably do the same, especially if you have had previous experiences with these rumours.

Pretty disappointing if this ends up true. I just want stuff for my switch because it's the console I play the most now, but there's just really a lack of stuff i'm interested in after Xenoblade HD hits end of the month.

@Grumblevolcano New in 2021/2 as in New Switch or new as in Switch 2, or whatever they name it?

And I really hope if they have no games other than ports for the rest of 2020 they don't make us wait until 2022 for Zelda BotW2 and whatever else they are working on, b/c surely they are working on something, even from home.

God damn it, I'm never gonna see metroid 4 footage, not to mention shin Megami tensei V

Safety first and my backlog is massive anyway. Make it when you are ready Nintendo.

Backlog at 50+; new games at a trickles pace hurts me none. WAY more important things than video games at current. Hell, I’d trade no new 2020 Nintendo Switch games for a guaranteed NFL season in a heartbeat, but that’s just selfish, backlog, football-freak talk.
Those who are furiously trying to decipher Nintendo’s strategies for Q3-Q4 2020, 2021-2024 as though they actually care about the company (and not themselves): there’s always Thousands of GREAT games you’ve never played...Out, Right Now, across P3, P4, XBox 360, 1 and Steam alone!! You can even replay those Nintendo masterpieces you’re always comparing genre also-rans with, too, don’t forget; the possibilities are numerous!