Nintendo Direct events have been a big part of the gaming world for nine years. Since they first burst onto the scene in 2011, Nintendo Direct has been the major platform that the Japanese company has used to communicate major announcements with its global fanbase.
From the late great Satoru Iwata to major names like Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto, many of Nintendo’s brightest stars have made Nintendo Direct a memorable part of the gaming year. These events have delighted fans the world over and made a huge splash by connecting directly with gamers in an online environment where Nintendo could control the style and narrative.
While the company has no immediate plans to stop Nintendo Direct events, company president Shuntaro Furukawa noted in the annual Nintendo shareholders meeting that they might not be around forever.
“We feel Nintendo Directs are an incredibly effective way to present information directly to our customers in a very straight-forward way,” he said. “Inversely, times change and so does the most effective way to promote products, so there is a chance that a new better way to present this information comes about. So we always like to examine all of the possible ways to communicate this information to customers.”
What does this mean?
Well, first off, it means that Nintendo Direct isn’t going away any time soon. The company is still using Nintendo Direct events as a major tool in its marketing campaigns. However, it does mean that Nintendo is open to the idea of taking an alternate route in the future. COVID-19 has rocked the gaming world, and many of Nintendo’s best and brightest are still working from home. It stands to reason that the company would start to look into any and all avenues to help streamline the announcement process in the event that a major event darkens the industry again.
Nintendo is sitting on a few major announcements at the moment. Fans are eagerly awaiting information on Metroid Prime 4, not to mention Bayonetta 3. Then there is the sequel to Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild, which we know very little about. There is also a highly rumored Super Mario 35th anniversary title that has the collective ears of the gaming industry perked up.
Nintendo Direct is a wonderful and engaging way to make these announcements, showcasing some of Nintendo’s biggest titles and generating a huge amount of hype around them. While the next Nintendo Direct is still a ways off, it will be interesting to see what the company has planned for the future.