Why there is going to be a Nintendo Direct on September 1st
Having Direct in September is not matter of if but rather when. In this post I will tell you why will team September 1st win.
There has been September Direct every single year since 2016, I am listing here every date when Direct happen and next to it when Tokyo Game Show was taking place in that year.
September 1st 2016 | TGS starting on September 15th |
September 13th 2017 | TGS starting on September 21st |
September 13th* 2018 | TGS starting on September 20th |
*Direct was delayed due to earthquake in Japan, it was pushed back by one week to September 13th from September 6th.
September 4th 2019 | TGS starting on September 14th |
September 17th 2020 | TGS starting on September 23st |
September 23th 2021 | TGS starting on September 30th |
September xx 2022 | TGS starting on September 15th |
As you can all see, all of the Directs took place
before the TGS started so that Nintendo could announce games from their partners that they can showcase at TGS. So we are looking for a Direct that takes place before September 15th. All the Directs took place around 1 or 2 weeks before TGS started.
But we can’t just look at past dates and figure out what will happen, that’s not how Nintendo works.
This week is empty, yes some might say that the Direct this week will interrupt Splatoon’s marketing and that might be true but am not really supporting this logic. Because if the Direct takes place on September 1st (2nd in Japan and EU) that is one whole week before Splatoon launches. Usually when Direct ends Nintendo will tweet about the games that were featured there for one or two days and that’s it. They don’t look back and say „Hey look, here is another reminder that you saw new BOTW2 trailer 4 days ago“ and so on.
I would say the Direct taking place in the Splatoon week this is also not a good spot, since you need to put out reviews for Splatoon. Going by last of their major releases the embargo for Strikers dropped on Wednesday while the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was Tuesday so it will be either 6th Tuesday or 7th Wednesday for reviews. That leaves a very little possibility to announce or air Direct on these dates. There is also a Apple Event happening on 7th and rumored Sony showcase on 8th. I would guess that Nintendo don’t care since they held a Direct in September 2017/8 day after Apple event but am just posting this for full context. The Direct also can't take place on 8th since that would already be 9th in JP and EU and I think doing Direct on Splatoon 3 release date is literally out of the question that's for sure.
One last week that is possible is second week of September from Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th (TGS starts on the 15th but Direct imo can’t take place in JP the same date as TGS starts). Some people say it will happen since Splatoon 3 will be out by then. If we exclude all possible days that week we really come out with one single date and that is.
Announcement on Monday 12th.
Direct taking place on Tuesday 13th in US (14th midnight in most of Europe and 14th in the morning in Japan).
Sounds good.
But I have one big problem with this date.
Direct would take place just one single day before TGS starts. One day imo isn’t enough for a titles announced in the Direct to then showcase at TGS next day. If it would be 3 to 4 days I would be on team that week, but the one day window is just so small that this opporunity is basically non existent.
And that brings me to the actual date of the Direct.
September 1st.
Announcement taking place on August 31st at 23:00 JST for a show on September 1st in NA, 2nd midnight CEST and 2nd morning in Japan.
If you may be wondering if it's problem that the Direct announcement will be different month than the Direct itself. This isn't the problem. As shown in the past:
September 1st 2016 Direct announced last day of August, April 1st 2015 Direct announced last day in March, Smash Ultimate Direct on November 1st 2018 announced in last day of October and list goes on and on.
Last but not least shout out to all of the other 65 people who also voted for team this week. We got this. See you on Wednesday.