Rumour: Down Time For 'My Nintendo Store' Could Point To A Direct Next Week

I suspect it could also be just maintenance, but you can argue any maintenance by Nintendo leads to a big ol thing most of the time (Earthbound on NSO, anything NSO actually)

theres gotta be something coming. and theoretically we are only about 9 months out from BotW2 release. There has to be a trailer. There is no way a direct is not happening within the next few weeks.

Or hopefully we in the EU can finally order the XC3 collectors edition…

The maintenance is so that the XC3 Special Edition can reappear without the site crashing.

@smithyo Well they said "Spring 2023" and spring goes til June. Therefore we still could be almost a year away from BotW2

Sounds like some scheduled tweets are ready to go from Nintendo

Nintendo Switch Pro

For what it’s worth, there has been a June Direct every year now since 2018.
And considering we haven’t had a full Direct since February, and we’re in the summer gaming season where most of the big developers announce what they’re working on, it would surprise me more if we didn’t see anything from Nintendo…

@Olliemar28 massively appreciated! I’ve registered interest, but even with that I feel that I’m going to miss the email notification.

At least having a smaller window of when the pre orders go live to aim for, I’ll know to be more alert closer to the time…

Goldeneye Online for NSO Expansion Pack is my prediction. A reveal that will make as many happy as it does angry.

how about giving us another release date to preorder the special editions of xenoblade 3 which you promised nintendo get on it.

OMG... do you know what this means? You guys, this is amazing!

We are literally just days away from not getting an update on Metroid Prime 4!

I predict however that the Prime Trilogy HD will finally get an airing, for release this fall/winter.

All I want from Nintendo right now is Wind Waker HD and Goldeneye. Twilight Princess HD as well if it isn't too much to ask.. Oh, and Mother 3!

In all seriousness just one of those would be so exciting!

I’m predicting we’ll get a look at a new Metroid Prime 4 logo, a delay for Bayonetta 3 and The Devils Third Remastered. The new N64 game will be Superman.

"planned maintenance from Monday, June 27th to Wednesday June 29th"

How the heck do you put that announcement up there like that without listing the hours!?!? That could be 72 hours - midnight Monday morning until Midnight Wednesday night - or only 24 hours - midnight Monday night until midnight Tuesday night Wednesday morning. It's just the UK so they don't even need to account for time zones, just list the local time. #NintendoLogic

I really hate this wait and tease Direct cycle from Nintendo. It feels worse this time around because I'm seriously expecting some BOTW 2 news.

I saw the BOTW 2 image and my heart stopped then I read the article and my eyes rolled

That's a very long maintenance window

@Axecon it’s a catch 22 situation. As fans, hearing massive games announced (BotW 2, Prime 4, Bayonetta 3) is enough to create hysteria in the community…

On the other hand, the practise of announcing a game and showing NOTHING for (sometimes) years is bad practise.

There should be some kind of happy medium between announcing a new game to when we first see said game as it’s unfair on fans to get their hopes up, only to have to wait an absolute age to see even the tiniest bit of gameplay…

The turnaround from announcement to gameplay to game release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was a perfect way of handling those kind of situations IMO.

it really sucks that NIntendo can't just be more transparent with this. Just say "we're gonna hold a Not-E3-Direct" or "Nothing planned right now, stay tuned"
There's nothing brand-igniting behind letting customers starve and guess and wait like this.

@valcoholic and thats my problem with nintendo. Why cant they just say this in an advance. I hate this shadow drop announcements.. and it just annoys people so hard.

Seriously? It's not happening people. Temper your expectations. Nintendon't will not have another Nintendo Direct until they unveil their new Switch 360 Oculus Plus in 2037.

There ya have it. Hype responsibly folks.

@OorWullie The 29th is the anniversary of Goldeneye. There is a documentary being aired on that date. Maybe everything is aligning for some sort of miracle release?

Nintendo fans, owning a console with hundreds of games, still act starved for new content and treat directs like an oasis in a desert! 😂

I reckon they have deliberately broken the website even more so when they restock the N64 controllers, those of us in the UK who have waited 8 months for a restock won't be able to buy them still.

Have the stores for other nations and regions also undergone recent and significant maintenance? If there is to be a Direct, why would the UK shop alone prepare in this way?

I think at minimum is mario kart dlc and the socker update for switch sports we know one is summer and the other is needed to follow pattern

I mean I don't care either way really..nothing exciting coming from Nintendough I'd fork up $60 for with backlog and other games to try. Bayonetta 3 is about all I'm looking forward to.

@NintendoByNature - I mean, you’re not wrong, but I don’t have ANY data to support this; so I disagree with the “responsibly” part, and I think we should hype “with caution”.

@GrailUK Yep, it all points towards something happening. I reckon we'll get a revamped multiplayer mode for NSO with Xbox crossolay and perhaps the single player mode sold separately. Or maybe not...

Stability

.. lots of stability

But my money is on a new Mario game announcement, to be released alongside movie, with a new console, and the new Zelda.

I'd love to be wrong on this, but everyone's confidence in a BotW2 trailer turning up in next week's direct seems misplaced to me! Nintendo only told us about the delay to the game a few months ago... Reading between the lines I see that as the perfect caveat for BotW2 NOT being shown in the next Direct.

I'm also not really sure what we should be expecting to be announced here either... 2022's line-up could easily already be complete. Xeno 3 in late July, Splat 3 in early September and Pokemon in November leaves a heavily rumoured Fire Emblem sized hold for, presumably, October?

Yes there could be a December game... and yes August looks like it could get something too, but not expecting anything huge to land in those gaps.

New Mario to tie in with the movie early next year makes sense to me.

Gap filler Zelda for BotW2's delay also makes some sense, even if I personally would rather we not get WW/TP or Oracles/OoT remake this side of BotW2 (I'd rather they fill the many years gap we will have AFTER BotW2 waiting for next 3D Zelda!)

Then there's Donkey Kong. Why do I have this nagging feeling that we have had a DK game cancelled in the background? Perhaps Retro abandoned something before they got handed the rescue job (remains to be seen) on MP4?

And finally new Hardware. It's simply not going to happen. Use PS5 and Series X as your gauge as to whether launching a new console is at all a good idea / even possible right now. However, an OLED Switch Lite... that I can believe.

Yea. I'm just not sure what to expect here, but low expectations has never seemed more sensible than now.

@nocdaes : I think the Zelda delay is to coincide with new hardware, and new Mario.

The same reason that the Mario movie was delayed to same time too.

@bimmy-lee thumbs down Pal. Given the recent events the last few weeks, I'd say a direct is likely, to 💯 guaranteed. Jeffrey Grubb the industry insider says the XC3 direct lines up to EXACTLY what he's been hearing around the industry. He basically knew this about the XC3 direct prior, but didn't want to come out and say it until after thar direct was announced, to avoid any confusion or mass hysteria. So between that, and maintenance coming, I think it's a lock. I've already got my bbgccc locked and loaded for the fabled shadow drop of werewolf paradise party DX.

@NintendoByNature - Ah, I see, it’s a cannibalism thing where one thing’s attention eats another thing’s attention. Whelp, you’ve changed my mind, hype responsibly!

It's clearly maintenance to just make the eshop quicker 🤣🤣 tbf I'd take that over a Direct anyways

Would love a direct, but it would also be so funny if the next direct will be in September.

Sounds like clutching at straws to me!

That happens to be the exact date I’m planning on playing Waverace64. WAVERace Switch edition confirmed.

It definitely needs some maintenance, it's been a bizarre state of affairs for months. No rewards since March, digital download codes out of stock for games that can't be bought online on the eShop, and N64 and other retro controllers nowhere to be seen. It started so promisingly, but something is definitely wrong there and my guess the maintenance has nothing to do with a direct, despite the fact that one is imminent

What I want, and almost definitely will not get, is a Switch home premium edition with automatic 4k resolution and other enhancements for games that take advantage. To be in the smallest way possible, this system would need a TV, a power plug, and a fan. I'm just ready of the next big "beauty" games like BOTW2 and Metroid Prime 4 and Mario to be more colorful and have a sharper resolution and smoother frame rate.

~ dreaming ~

... or Silksong. That would tide me over until Nintendo catches up with TVs again.

@valcoholic You summed up this situation perfectly. It is one of life's greatest mysteries. Might as well hire a fortune teller to predict if and when the next Direct date is.

All jokes aside, I'm really tired of this happening every Direct cycle. Call me entitled but I wanted my Breath of the Wild 2 news two weeks ago!

When the page goes back up on the 29th after no direct:
<html>
Sike!
</html>

There are only 2 things I need to be personally set for the rest of the year ...Mario Party 3 on Switch Online, and a Wind Waker HD port.

@nimnio I'm more of a "Nintendo Switch 3D" kind of person, one screen but a 3D screen!

@Clammy
The Mario movie was clearly delayed to be a launch title for the Movie Theater Pro.

Another baseless rumour lol

With such a long amount of downtime, that could mean A LOT (again, COULD) of games being announced/having pre-order added.
Still hoping for more Splat 3 news…

But only a direct for the UK then? No other regions seem to have planned maintenance upcoming

@Clammy Switch sucessor anouncement

Kirby epic yarn...

@Giancarlothomaz : at this point, it’s surely almost guaranteed surely? Why else would they postpone Mario movie and Zelda to the same date?

New Mario to be announced.

My uncle doesn’t work for Nintendo.

I heard the movie is actually a mega direct for the Switch U Pro

@OorWullie
It only makes me mildly upset for the amount of people lying to themselves that they will ever replay GoldenEye

@Ryan_S Switch U pro! This has to be true!!

We just had a Direct last week so I'm not gonna hold my breath.

At a minimum we are due up for some news on the promised Mario Kart 8 DLC. They've committed to new content every four months, so we should get that by the end of July at the latest, or potentially Wednesday. It's just suspect their has been no word on it until now as if they wanted to save it for a Direct and release the same day.
I would love to see a Direct that at best could announce a Switch Pro, but could also potentially be nothing at the same time. I guess we'll see. Not loving the lack of news from Nintendo around E3 season the second week in June.

@Nico07 They're not committed releasing DLC every four months. The release dates per pack was left ambiguous but all should be released by the end of 2023.

@AlexanderDaniels If all DLC is to release by the end of 2023 that does commit them to DLC every four months. Yes, they could release more rapidly than this but it commits them to at least that or missing their own deadline. Makes sense, right?

March 2022, July 2022, November 2022, March 2023, July 2023, November 2023.

@Nico07 You should know by now how unpredictable Nintendo are. They could release two packs simultaneously for all we know. A commitment would be them having solid release dates per pack.

@AlexanderDaniels True, but Nintendo themselves are the ones who setup this timeline, it wasn't impossed by anyone outside of Nintendo. Most groups if they were to commit to something like this would have maybe 40-50% of the content near ready to go when announced. It does only benefit them to drag the content on forever with most getting it by subscribing to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. But personally, I still see Nintendo either releasing semi-regular updates or just missing the deadline with a strong likelihood they will just extend out development.

@Axecon late reply but still:
on some podcast someone formerly working at Nintendo mentioned how it became some kind of sport to never do what people expect you to do. If they expect a direct, don't do one, if they don't Bam. I can see how this might actually work and create buzz and everything but still it ain't good fanservice.

@valcoholic That weirdly makes a lot of sense and no sense at all. That type of tactic only works so well before people start walking away (I'm sure the Nintendo shares probably took a hit in the stockholder meeting shortly after). Considering how tenuous Nintendo is with their marketing plans during the main part of the year, it was nice that E3 week was almost a guaranteed time we would see a full fat direct showcase. Obviously this year (and 2020 COVID year) that wasn't the case but hopefully it just means we will see more unexpected surprises in store (Switch pro rumors again? XD). The partner and Xenoblade directs were pretty solid but that won't stop the frustration of no news for BOTW 2.

@Axecon hmmm i don't believe its such a big dealfor them to actually afffect stocks in a big way as the whole E3 situation this year was pretty mediocre throughout the whole industry. I mean MS did quite OK but I had the general feeling that people weren't blown away by this season although in hindsight if you would sum all the little directs and big summer game fests together it might end up in even more announcements than we got with physical E3s.
Anyways that of course still doesn't help that Nintendo is doing an actively bad job and knows it. Then again, part of me is kinda happy that all of this has to mean that they still have an actually big direct in store for us to drop at some random point in history. I just do hope they ain't be waiting until september.

@Nico07 See, what did I tell you. Nintendo releasing its next wave in the fifth month after the first. Truly unpredictable.