Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

October 20th is a Sunday. Imagine if Nintendo actually just randomly shadow-dropped it on a weekend

I'm just going to assume it will be January at the earliest and be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong.

@Sigran102 The lack of any leaks from credible sources, and the fact there’s been nothing since the reported factory floor leak suggests there’s nothing coming soon. Personally think it’ll be February or March.

Considering earlier today the Japanese Splatoon account and the Nintendo accounts outside NA announced a Splatfest (Splatoween), it's a safe guess that the 2pm UK time tweet would be the Splatoon NA account announcing the Splatfest.

@Grumblevolcano I thought they finished doing Splatfests?

@FragRed They announced after Grand Fest ended that they were doing the seasonal Splatfests again (Splatoween, FrostyFest, SpringFest, Summer Nights) but until today it was unknown whether they would be identical or different themes.

• Splatoween 2023 was "Which would be the best friend?" with options being Zombie vs. Skeleton vs. Ghost
• Splatoween 2024 is "What would you be in a fantasy world?" with options being Wizard vs. Knight vs. Ninja

The redeemable gear via the Switch news section is also different this time.

There's the 2pm UK time tweet:

@Grumblevolcano Ah I didn’t know that. And that tweet at 2pm certainly makes today a no go for Switch 2 announcements. To me today was the last possible day to make that announcement too until February.

SWITCH 2 EVERYONE… oh wait

I was just scrolling through the posts made in the main Switch thread from around August-October 2016. The discussions points are more or less the same as what we're having now

A few things I noticed, firstly somehow I was MORE argumentative back then than I am now if you can believe such a thing. There's also a post from @Grumblevolcano in early October pointing to a livestream for the NES Classic which people took to mean that October was now done (reveal trailer was October 20th). Also we weren't entirely sure what the Switch was yet however apparently we knew it was releasing in March by this point. Not entirely sure how

...... but even though we apparently knew the release date and we were closing in on mid-October there were still people talking about announcements in January. We've been here before basically

Is October 29/30 our last chance this year for Switch 2 announcement?

@skywake Nintendo announced via the fiscal year meeting in April 2016 that NX was releasing in March 2017 and that BotW was a simultaneous Wii U/NX release.

@Grumblevolcano
Ahh, that makes sense then. Still, even though we knew more about it back then we were still very much in the dark about the timing of the announcement. And people were posting things about how the month was dead because of this or that reason as they are now. If I go even further into that thread to the day before the announcement there are literally people saying that they doubt NX will be revealed in 2016

Basically what I'm trying to say is, this isn't a new place we're in. We've seen this story before. And people were as pessimistic as they are now about it. Do I expect an announcement this year? I think probably yes. I haven't seen anything to say we won't get one and I think it's clear enough that production is far enough along that I can't see H2 2025. I don't know this but I think it makes sense and still does

But what I do know is that whenever they announce it we'll be in this holding pattern until the day before

I wonder if Alarmo will connect in some way to Switch 2, and that's why they revealed it first and have a general release set for Jan, hopefully just a couple months before Switch 2.

@skywake offering a preview of the next generation in advance of the launch year is typical, just at E3 in past generations. But I don’t think people remember those details when coming up with their (preferred) timeline

@AStupidID
I believe there's an FAQ where they explicitly say it's a standalone device that doesn't connect to the Switch or the "Switch successor console"

Anyways, it's a limited edition US only device that doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. Not sure there is that much more to be said about it. Certainly doesn't change any of my thinking around the whats and whens of Switch 2

@NinChocolate
E3 is dead but when it was a thing it was only game in town and only happened once a year. So if you were releasing in the holiday period and wanted a hype cycle longer than 5 months (and back then you definitely did) you had to announce over a year before. That's not the case anymore

@skywake where's the FAQ if I can ask?

My take on the situation is that if @PikminMarioKirby is right about Brothership previews this week, that'll happen tomorrow and hence Switch 2 isn't announced this year. They'll let Jamboree and Brothership pass then do a general Direct to fill in Switch 1 lineup for 1st half of 2025.

@Grumblevolcano I’m confused. Are you saying Nintendo will do a Direct of upcoming first party games in November after Mario & Luigi launches? That doesn’t make any sense. They’d have just done that in the Direct that took place last August.