StarTopic Nintendo Direct Speculation |ST4| Tears of the Speculation

[MisterSpo]

Didn't realise Sea of Stars was targeting mid-2023. I'll need to get Fire Emblem, Chained Echoes, and Octopath 2 done by then... somehow.

 

[Stairouais]

They really should've made a 100 seconds video of Link droping in the sky and nothing else.

 

[stodesign12]

It's time to accept that the absence of E3 last year wasn't the reason for Nintendo not making a June Direct...

 

[rickyson33]

They really should've made a 100 seconds video of Link droping in the sky and nothing else.

post one second of it every day

then at the end he splats and they announce a delay

 

[Krikeno]

Nintendo Direct announcement in 3 hours let's go!!!

 

[matthew93]

Apologies if this has been posted already but I was listening to Jeff Grubb on last of the Nintendogs and he mentioned that he had heard of a possible Direct next week. By no means is this confirmation but he had heard rumblings of suggestions pointing to late next week.

 

[PixelKnight]

Honestly I don't understand why Nintendo, the famously secretive company who have thus far revealed the absolute minimum information about their most anticipated game over four years of it being public, would tell either ESA or ReedPop (especially the latter) "yeah lol we just don't have much in the second half of this year woo yeah sorry never mind" (this is a deliberately flippant articulation for the sake of humour).

Especially then when the first source for this information happens to be an employee of the ReedPop group. That's the kind of leaky leaky no control over the narrative scenario that Nintendo would want to avoid. I feel a little like sources are inferring - from Nintendo's decision not to attend E3, the lack of confirmed Switch titles post Zelda, and the Switch's age - that there's not that much planned.

Like yes, obviously, nobody is saying the release schedule is coming to a complete halt. But if the other rumour pile is correct and Nintendo aren't on track with new hardware, then winding down their only major revenue stream seems a suspiciously odd move. They can't magic software from nowhere, of course, but it's not as if there's any sign they're struggling for games, either.

I dunno. I kinda think 2023 is going to be suspiciously normal.

I guess ‘things will probably be business as usual’ isn’t the headline that gets people clicking on articles

 

[xghost777]

I have a deal for Nintendo, a good one.

They just move Zelda's release date to February and i'm willing to wait until September for a Direct. Everyone wins!



Nah, Xenoblade 3 was an exception due to the rather quickly made/short framed decision to switch release dates with Splatoon 3.
They simply weren't able to produce enough CE stuff for a worldwide release in the shortened timeframe.

Pretty sure the Xeno 3 CE would've been available at every retailer if they didn't switcheroo it.

Engage's Divine Edition for example was already back to normal. ^^

I meant any limited edition Zelda items. I expect any video game collector’s edition if there is one to not be too, too hard to get across retailers.

 

[Cerlinho]

They really should've made a 100 seconds video of Link droping in the sky and nothing else.

With this we can calculate maximum height of the sky Islands! Everyone on YouTube:
HOW HIGH IS THE SKY IN TOKT???!!!
NEW INFO!!! TOO HIGH? SKY HEIGHTS IN ZELDA!!!
ZELDA THEORY!! SKY BORDERLINE?????
WHAT I DISCOVERED MIGHT SURPRISE YOU!!! (SHOCKED LINK FACE)

 

[Cerlinho]

Apologies if this has been posted already but I was listening to Jeff Grubb on last of the Nintendogs and he mentioned that he had heard of a possible Direct next week. By no means is this confirmation but he had heard rumblings of suggestions pointing to late next week.

How reliable he is? I think I've lost track record of his leaks

 

[matthew93]

Like any insider he can get things wrong but I trust him more than others. I want to stress he didn't explicitly say it is definitely happening next week, more that he had heard things to suggest it could be late next week. Wary things can be taken out of context and passed off as "definitely happening".

 

[Koren Lesthe]

Tears of the Kingdom :
"HOW HIGH CAN YOU GO ?"
25m (DK Arcade jingle)

 

[JorgenRaft]

Honestly I don't understand why Nintendo, the famously secretive company who have thus far revealed the absolute minimum information about their most anticipated game over four years of it being public, would tell either ESA or ReedPop (especially the latter) "yeah lol we just don't have much in the second half of this year woo yeah sorry never mind" (this is a deliberately flippant articulation for the sake of humour).

Especially then when the first source for this information happens to be an employee of the ReedPop group. That's the kind of leaky leaky no control over the narrative scenario that Nintendo would want to avoid. I feel a little like sources are inferring - from Nintendo's decision not to attend E3, the lack of confirmed Switch titles post Zelda, and the Switch's age - that there's not that much planned.

Like yes, obviously, nobody is saying the release schedule is coming to a complete halt. But if the other rumour pile is correct and Nintendo aren't on track with new hardware, then winding down their only major revenue stream seems a suspiciously odd move. They can't magic software from nowhere, of course, but it's not as if there's any sign they're struggling for games, either.

I dunno. I kinda think 2023 is going to be suspiciously normal.

I mean, if you look at last year, it is kind of peculiar to think about what exactly they would have showed up at E3 with if it had happened. Would they have just showed everything from the June Partner as well as the TotK title reveal and Pikmin 4? If that was the case, then what would the September direct have looked like? Even with only 2 general directs last year, neither were all that extravagant.

Last year their holiday wasn't very grand first party wise with Bayo/Pokemon/Rabbids being the bigger releases, and it's possible that this year is the same to the point where they don't need 3 general directs. I think they might prefer having 2, tbh, given they avoided any full general directs in June without the accompaniment of E3.

 

[9-Volt]

Games coming soon to the NA eShop

Coming Soon Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story™ Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story™ Release date: December 31, 2023 Genres: Indie Developer: None Publisher: Riot Forge ESRB rating: E10 ESRB descriptors: Fantasy Violence, Language Has DLC: No Availability: Coming soon Player count...

famiboards.com

Looks like they also update the NSUID for Marvel Midnights Sun, Disney Speedstorm, Sea of Stars and the Mickey Mouse 2D Game.
These games and the start of the preorders can be potential announcements for the possible next direct (in form of trailer or as a part of the reel)

That's not update, our bot is just reviewing all the upcoming games in the database. Endless Dungeon and LoL spinoff games are also there and they're not coming anytime soon.

(that being said, there's one big omission that's still on Nintendo's site: Outer Wilds. Hopefully it'll add it to the list too)

 

[stodesign12]

Like any insider he can get things wrong but I trust him more than others. I want to stress he didn't explicitly say it is definitely happening next week, more that he had heard things to suggest it could be late next week. Wary things can be taken out of context and passed off as "definitely happening".

Yep, I agree. In fact, after the Metroid Prime HD and Zelda TP/WW "fiasco" last September, I actually trust him even more, that situation made him more careful than ever.

 

[ZaWams]

How reliable he is? I think I've lost track record of his leaks

Very reliable, and usually makes it clear when he is certain, or speculating or if he isn’t 100% on something.

He did get Metroid Prime coming out last Holiday wrong, but checked with his sources multiple times and they kept telling him it would release. He shaved his head since he got it wrong. He takes accountability if he misses on a leak

 

[BassForever]

Apologies if this has been posted already but I was listening to Jeff Grubb on last of the Nintendogs and he mentioned that he had heard of a possible Direct next week. By no means is this confirmation but he had heard rumblings of suggestions pointing to late next week.

What part of his body is he gonna shave hair off this time

In all seriousness, the odds of a direct being the week of the 6th or 13th is like 99%, there's smoke everywhere between the leaked NA voucher video and the NSUID updates.

 

[JorgenRaft]

Folks like Jeff and Nate have had their misses as far as the content of directs which they’ve both owned up to, but they’re pretty spotless when it comes to sharing info on direct timing.

So I imagine something next week is likely if that’s what Jeff is hearing.

 

[stodesign12]

After TotK and a few other new games, I think Nintendo should focus on bringing back the catalog from older consoles to make the Switch the ultimate Nintendo plataform. It's a bit sad that Wii U is still arguably the ultimate Zelda console and the ultimate Metroid console.

 

[CyberWolfBia]

The "report" of no more heavy-hitters after Zelda floating around is so stupid.. basically showing how narrow the mind of the industry (and our bubble of enthusiasts) is.. Only caring about two or three franchises, get attached too much on the >apparent< budget inject on games and they miss the mark completly on sales projections due bias (no way a 2D game could be as enticing as a 3D cinematic one, right?! ).

I bet if Nintendo had Animal Crossing scheduled already officially after Zelda, people would still be saying Nintendo have nothing of worth planned... AND probably wouldn't change their minds even after the game selling 50+ Million copies in 5 seconds..

 

[MisterSpo]

I guess ‘things will probably be business as usual’ isn’t the headline that gets people clicking on articles

I mean, if you look at last year, it is kind of peculiar to think about what exactly they would have showed up at E3 with if it had happened. Would they have just showed everything from the June Partner as well as the TotK title reveal and Pikmin 4? If that was the case, then what would the September direct have looked like? Even with only 2 general directs last year, neither were all that extravagant.

Last year their holiday wasn't very grand first party wise with Bayo/Pokemon/Rabbids being the bigger releases, and it's possible that this year is the same to the point where they don't need 3 general directs. I think they might prefer having 2, tbh, given they avoided any full general directs in June without the accompaniment of E3.

I can see a scenario where Nintendo turned down participation at E3 with something as bland as "We don't think the event fits our marketing needs/product range this year and so won't participate".

To be fair though, having Pokemon (biggest ever launch for Nintendo), Mario and Bayonetta come hot on the heels of Splatoon 3 is a very strong line up for 2022. I guess the key point is Nintendo didn't feel they needed E3-equivalent marketing, or Summer Games Fest, to market that software.

 

[Jannyish]

I mean after Nintendo of Europe basically acknowledged it's only 100 days until TotK launch they need to be showing something soon.

 

[Maronic03]

The "report" of no more heavy-hitters after Zelda floating around is so stupid.. basically showing how narrow the mind of the industry (and our bubble of enthusiasts) is.. Only caring about two or three franchises, get attached too much on the >apparent< budget inject on games and they miss the mark completly on sales projections due bias (no way a 2D game could be as enticing as a 3D cinematic one, right?! ).

I bet if Nintendo had Animal Crossing scheduled already officially after Zelda, people would still be saying Nintendo have nothing of worth planned... AND probably wouldn't change their minds even after the game selling 50+ Million copies in 5 seconds..

I just don't understand how anyone could confidentaly claim they know the entire Nintendo game catalog for a full year.

It's like begging to be appear on the "poorly aged things" twitter account.

 

[Kartina]

But what if today is actually the day?

 

[MisterSpo]

I just don't understand how anyone could confidentaly claim they know the entire Nintendo game catalog for a full year.

It's like begging to be appear on the "poorly aged things" twitter account.

I think it's important here to avoid misrepresenting what's been said. As far as I know, nobody has claimed that. Yes, an odd claim has been made, and we shouldn't necessarily take it at face value, but let's not misrepresent things.

 

[PixelKnight]

I can see a scenario where Nintendo turned down participation at E3 with something as bland as "We don't think the event fits our marketing needs/product range this year and so won't participate".

To be fair though, having Pokemon (biggest ever launch for Nintendo), Mario and Bayonetta come hot on the heels of Splatoon 3 is a very strong line up for 2022. I guess the key point is Nintendo didn't feel they needed E3-equivalent marketing, or Summer Games Fest, to market that software.

Maybe Nintendo thinks ‘why spend cash on summer marketing when social media is going to be full of people finding crazy stuff to do in TotK’

 

[Maronic03]

I think it's important here to avoid misrepresenting what's been said. As far as I know, nobody has claimed that. Yes, an odd claim has been made, and we shouldn't necessarily take it at face value, but let's not misrepresent things.

I guess but that's what has been implied.

If you claim "there will be no major games this year after TOTK", it implies you are aware of everything else releasing that year. Otherwise how could you judge whether or not those upcoming games are "major".

 

[souio]

I'm a leaker too. As in, I'm leaking with excitement for this new direct!

 

[Paxie]

I guess but that's what has been implied.

If you claim "there will be no major games this year after TOTK", it implies you are aware of everything else releasing that year. Otherwise how could you judge whether or not those upcoming games are "major".

It could also mean you just know the usual massive titles (e.g. mainline Mario, Pokemon) aren't coming out this year and that there aren't enough whispers going around to justify another heavy hitter outside of them existing

 

[ITSMILNER]

I really want to see some GC era 3rd party stuff come in this Direct, make it a real nostalgia fest. Give me Viewtiful Joe HD collection and Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg Remastered!

 

[LukasManak22]

you know that the NOA tweet at the top of the hour will be 100 days TotK thing, nothing more

 

[Bonejack]

I'm a leaker too. As in, I'm leaking with excitement for this new direct!

 

[Weebos]

How reliable he is? I think I've lost track record of his leaks

He recently shaved his (formerly glorious) locks because of (I think) a Metroid Prime claim, so while he was wrong, he puts skin (hair) in the game.

 

[9-Volt]

I really want to see some GC era 3rd party stuff come in this Direct, make it a real nostalgia fest. Give me Viewtiful Joe HD collection and Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg Remastered!

You know, Sega's been talking about Skies of Arcadia a lot lately. Sure, it's a big anniversary, but you don't celebrate a birthday of game that is not available digitally anywhere.

 

[Sparkling Hootle]

I’m expecting the 100 days tweet that NoE did, but posted on the NoA twitter account.

If there isn’t an announcement today, I’d like to imagine it’s next week.

 

[CyberWolfBia]

It could also mean you just know the usual massive titles (e.g. mainline Mario, Pokemon) aren't coming out this year and that there aren't enough whispers going around to justify another heavy hitter outside of them existing

Here's the thing... We could still be getting both a 2D Zelda and/or a 2D Mario on 2023 and beyond (more confident on the latter, personally); Both qualifies as mainline and 2D Mario in particular is much bigger than even the 3D games;

Without mention anything Donkey Kong related; the strength of the brand alone is being wildly underestimated.

 

[Marce-chan]

No, 4 months is not a reasonable amount of time at all.

I would be pretty shocked at less than 9 months and expect 12-15 months.

What mid tier sales franchise has released two same genre games at $60 within 6 months of each other in the last... Decade?

Shin Megami Tensei?
III Nocturne Remaster(was it 60$?) and V came out 6 months apart. And that's a franchise that never cracked a million before V.
There was Xenoblade Chronicles (New 3DS) and Xenoblade Chronicles X back in 2015 too.
But I don't believe in Metroid Prime 4 coming in 2023, that ship has long sailed.
It's either Prime Remake in June and 4 next spring or Prime Remake holiday 2023 and 4 holiday 2024. No reason they wouldn't have released MPR last year otherwise.

News from the other thread on this subject: IGN's new article on the E3 situation corroborates Nintendo skipping E3 over a quiet second half of the year

I mean, that can be taken in a lot of ways:
A new 2D Super Mario game is the biggest possible game Switch can get, and it doesn't really need to be playable on stage or has anything anybody doesn't know about it to need a huge showcase.
I mean last year H2 was stellar with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and didn't have an E3 at all. And they didn't bother to bring those games to other events either.
Not to mention that by their definitions the only major game would be Splatoon 3 and Pokémon that wouldn't count lol.

The people who know Nintendo's H2 release schedule right now is limited to their executives, the teams working on the games, and certain divisions like Treehouse. That information is not available for IGN or VGC to report on, period. And I'm baffled that people believe Nintendo would disclose that as their reason for skipping E3, to the point it could be reported on. I won't even get into the absurdity of that justification for skipping E3 in and of itself.

Yes, I agree totally here.

2023; the most disappointing year for Nintendo in the Switch era.

We just entered February with a Fire Emblem game released, a Kirby remaster coming this month, a Bayonetta spin off next month and TotK coming in May.

I feel like I've said this a million times now, but I hope people don't start dooming when they hear "lighter second half". Just because there's less major games doesn't mean there's no major games. It probably also means that there's not a bunch of titles that need gameplay and/or feature reveals to show what the game is about. 2D Mario is self explanatory for example. Ports and remakes are self explanatory. Pikmin 4 is most likely self explanatory.

Yes. Not to mention games that aren't considered major that would also be exciting AF (I mean, Bayonetta 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, etc, weren't big sellers but we're great). Them feeling like their games for the second half wouldn't need to be playable on stage to sell or that E3 wouldn't contribute a lot with their marketing (like last year where there was no E3, yet Splatoon 3 and Pokémon broke every record possible) would be enough reason for them choosing not to spend the millions they'd need to pay for the presence and for the space there. Participating in E3 isn't free y'all. If Nintendo thinks they can promote their games to great success by their own(and they more than proved that they can), they definitely will.

 

[Maronic03]

It could also mean you just know the usual massive titles (e.g. mainline Mario, Pokemon) aren't coming out this year and that there aren't enough whispers going around to justify another heavy hitter outside of them existing

Even then, knowing that some major games aren't coming this year should not lead you to assume there isn't some other major game you haven't heard about.

 

[Maronic03]

Here's the thing... We could still be getting both a 2D Zelda and/or a 2D Mario on 2023 and beyond (more confident on the latter, personally); Both qualifies as mainline and 2D Mario in particular is much bigger than even the 3D games;

Without mention anything Donkey Kong related; the strength of the brand alone is being wildly underestimated.

For example, how many people would have considered Luigi's Mansion 3 as "major" before it actually came out/was announced.

Because it absolutely is now when you look at its sales.

 

[Gamer_G]

The NSO playlist has been updated! There’s currently an unlisted video, wonder what it could be

 

[Maronic03]

The NSO playlist has been updated! There’s currently an unlisted video, wonder what it could be

Virtual boy let's goooooooo!

 

[LukasManak22]

The NSO playlist has been updated! There’s currently an unlisted video, wonder what it could be

the vouchers video

 

[Luneth]

The NSO playlist has been updated! There’s currently an unlisted video, wonder what it could be

Probably the return of vouchers to NA video

 

[MisterSpo]

I do think the "no major games after Zelda" is inference rather than anybody claiming to be aware of the exact nature of Nintendo's plans. People know Nintendo aren't doing E3; they know a new mainline Pokemon is unlikely this year; they know Zelda is a colossal release and that May is an odd launch window; they know Switch is 6 years old. What we're seeing are educated guesses based on that information.

But that might not stop Nintendo from having a new 2D Mario in summer or autumn, for example. It's odd for me that this narrative has set in across several outlets and it's only February 1st.

 

[Gamer_G]

For the record, a few other NoA playlists, plus one of NCL’s were “updated today” (ftr NCL has not uploaded in 3 weeks)

 

[Captain Falcon]

I’ll be honest, if all I got was the following games this year, I’d be ecstatic:

• Tears of the Kingdom
• Pikmin 4
• 2D Mario or DK (holiday title)
• Metroid Prime Remastered
• F-Zero GX Remastered

And that seems very reasonable if not likely. Nintendo will have some title of significance to anchor the holiday this year and it won’t be an Ultra Smash type game given the size of the install base.

 

[Derachi]

The NSO playlist has been updated! There’s currently an unlisted video, wonder what it could be

Oooh family it’s happening

 

[DexterBear]

Huh so the post...didn't exist at this time.

 

[awkwardgoomba]

see you next week !

 

[souio]

Reset the clocks... unless they're not going by winter time and they'll announce something in an hour. That's the last hope.

Team January will prevail!