Unrelated to the event next week and rather related to the topic a few pages back about why Nintendo is holding off games/announcements, I have a theory which directly relates to Nintendo's release schedule strategy in general which sprung to mind when Emily in the not-so-distant past remarked that (paraphrasing here) "maybe Nintendo tries to publish two games every month in 2022."
I was quite surprised by her saying that as Nintendo since consolidating for the Switch has always came off to me as trying very hard to spread out their first-party published games (whereas in the past their first-party games overlapped because they saw their previously seperated console and handheld console strategy as two completely different markets). Spreading them out in such a way that they do not overlap in one month other when absolutely necessary - in which case one title is clearly in the casual-oriented and the other clearly core-oriented spectrum (or its just some remasters/ports).
Why are they sitting on games and even announcements like the new Fire Emblem, Metroid Prime Remake and Everybody Switch? Because the release schedule this year is full enough from their point of view and next year other months/periods devoid of first-party releases need to be filled. as a result, a few of the games can be announced in the fall Direct. It's as simple as that.
It all boils down to this: people look back on the days where A Link Between Worlds and 3D World released in the same month (nevermind same day) and envision that future for the Switch, but Nintendo has been completely distancing themselves from such a strategy since their handheld and console market consolidated into one single market and platform. Instead they give each and every single first-party release the most potential breathing room and therefore selling power while simultaneously (trying) to keep third-party partners and developers happy that don't want to get overshadowed.
Other signs that may point to this strategy are unexpected moves like Nintendo seemingly not publishing/co-developing Good-Feel's next major release after doing so since their inception while Good-Feel is seemingly developing their new game as a Switch exclusive still. In this scenario Nintendo saw their Switch publishing schedule for the next few years after Crafted World finished development as full in their view and just didn't sign off their next pitch.
That's what makes most sense to me when looking at everything generally. Nintendo is probably also (close to) sitting on EPD Tokyo's game because I cannot imagine them taking longer than 5 years for a new release even accounting for COVID for example. Tokyo has been the most consistent studio at Nintendo since they were created.
