We have a new rumor that a Nintendo Direct is coming, but truth be told, even if no one had leaked it, it was reasonable to expect a Nintendo Direct for this month.
First off, the rumor comes from a Marvel leaker named Ember. While they aren’t well known, they did make several confirmed leaks related to the film Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Ember simply tweeted that a Nintendo Direct announcement is imminent. Nintendo does announce beforehand when they will have a Direct scheduled, so presumably Ember received word that the announcement for the next Direct is what’s coming soon. This will obviously be easy to debunk in the span of a day or two.
Even without Ember sharing their information however, it is pretty reasonable to expect a Nintendo Direct to be coming this February. As outlined below, Nintendo have been scheduling a Nintendo Direct every February for the past few years. This list is courtesy Stealth40K on Twitter:
- 2019 – February 13th
- 2020 – March 26th
- 2021 – February 17th
- 2022 – February 9th
I must say, I will actually counter Stealth’s claim about Nintendo Directs in 2020. While it’s not in the same format, Nintendo actually had a special Direct dedicated to Animal Crossing: New Horizons on February 20, 2022. The Direct he is referring to that happened in March 26, 2020, is in the usual format with a series of announcements about several games.
Now, one may ask, why is there always a February Nintendo Direct? Does Nintendo follow some astrological projections to use this date? Is there a secret superstition in the company that makes them think this date is auspicious? The years prior to 2019 have not had a Direct scheduled on this date, so it definitely is not a tradition, and it is likely not about some astrological or superstitious belief.
It’s more likely that Nintendo of American happens to be busy with preparations for the start of the year in January, that they don’t get their first major marketing event like a Nintendo Direct ready until February.
Speculation on what the next Nintendo Direct will showcase is of course rampant, regardless of what date it will be on. We have a fairly good idea about what first party and third party games to expect in the future, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. There are also Nintendo games we expect for the Switch, but do not yet have release dates, like Pikmin 4 and Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp. Any of these games could come up in the next Direct, as well as announcements for new games, and possibly even new hardware?
While Nintendo Switch still seems like it has a few good years left in the market, it may be about time for Nintendo to at least announce its successor. Interestingly, the Nintendo Switch itself was not first announced in a Direct, and had its own presentation in 2016. We don’t know if such an announcement is coming this month, but now seems like a good time for Nintendo to at least send signals about what they have had brewing in their headquarters.