This Is The Longest Gap Between Nintendo Directs In Years

TheGamer

This Is The Longest Gap Between Nintendo Directs In Years - What's Going On?

By Daniel Alvarez

Published Feb 8, 2019

With the last one occurring five months ago, this is the longest time in-between Nintendo Directs in years.

In the modern day, Nintendo's primary way of marketing new announcements is through videos called "Directs." They serve as prerecorded segments of new video game trailers, interviews, and other things related to upcoming Nintendo products. Interestingly, this is the longest time in-between Directs in years.

The last general Nintendo Direct was in September, five months ago. There were a few notable game announcements, such as Luigi's Mansion 3, Animal Crossing for the Switch, and Town, by Game Freak. Technically, there was a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct in November, but that was just for one game. Since September, we've heard nothing about any new upcoming games.

Another interesting thing to think about is that Nintendo's recent major announcements were done in separate videos. Yoshi's Crafted World was given a story trailer and (finally) a release date in its own video last month. It was also announced last month that Metroid Prime 4 would be restarting development with Retro Studios. Again, this was done in its own video. Now, you could argue that the Metroid story was urgent, thus requiring its own video instead of waiting for a Direct. What is odd though, is that the Yoshi release date was given its own video. Crafted World was originally announced during the E3 2017 presentation, and again in the September Direct. Its concrete release date announcement would seem like something for an early 2019 Direct. Could this mean we still won't see a Direct anytime soon?

It is odd that we've heard pretty much nothing about Luigi's Mansion 3, Animal Crossing, or Town, considering these games are all releasing this year. With no Direct in sight, it seems likely that these games are releasing toward the latter part of the year. Even the core Pokémon RPG for Switch has very little information available, and that was announced way back in May. Could a lack of Directs also mean that the company doesn't have much else planned for the rest of the year? There was the report that Nintendo has 11 unannounced games in the pipeline, but that is not confirmed.

Nintendo has been doing very well. In December, the Switch outsold the PS4 and Xbox One. So, it's strange that the company has not built up more momentum with a new Direct. Of course, the company could surprise everyone by announcing tomorrow that the next Direct is next week. We also know that Nintendo will return for E3 this year, but surely the company will unveil some things before then. At the moment though, there is no evidence pointing to an oncoming Direct. You may hear rumors claiming that a February Direct is coming, but there is no confirmation. For now, we can only speculate, and wait to see what Nintendo has in store.