Nintendo has just revealed they will be having a Nintendo Direct tomorrow for their 2023 slate.
Nintendo shared this on their social media channels:
“Tune in at 2 p.m. PST tomorrow, Feb. 8, for a #NintendoDirect livestream featuring roughly 40 minutes of information mostly focused on #NintendoSwitch games launching in the first half of 2023.
Watch it live here: http://ninten.do/60155KAXF”
This corroborates the rumor from last week that a Nintendo Direct was coming. As we had explained back then, of course, Nintendo has made it a habit to schedule Nintendo Directs every February for the past few years. Many fans were already expecting it before any rumors.
So far, we have these games we know are definitely coming for the Nintendo Switch:
Tales of Symphonia Remastered – February 17
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe – February 24
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon – March 17
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – May 12
We still don’t have set release dates for Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp, and Pikmin 4 , although we do know that those games are well in development and are being made for the console.
Even more nebulous is the status of Metroid Prime 4, a game that Nintendo announced in 2017, but have kept under wraps in the past few years. Within that time Nintendo had published both for Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3. We also did get a surprise just for Metroid fans when the long cancelled Metroid Dread resurfaced and actually released two years ago.
While much of the Nintendo Switch library consisted of rereleases of Wii U games, Nintendo did get to work making newer games for the console in time. It was noticeable that Nintendo had released less original games for the platform compared to the Wii U. To be fair, Nintendo was put in the uncomfortable spot of being the primary software developer for the Wii U when third parties lost interest. However, it must also be said that this reflected Nintendo’s divided focus, as they started putting a lot of money and effort into their mobile games, an initiative they have recently reconsidered and pulled out of.
The flip side to this is how successful Nintendo had become in getting more third parties on board the Switch, more than any prior console. Nintendo saw both indies and major Western and Japanese third parties come along for the ride for their platform, releasing games as varied in scale as Hollow Knight and Octopath Traveler, to seemingly impossible ports of games like No Man’s Sky and Doom Eternal.
Nintendo could dazzle us with new first party games, or surprise retro rereleases, or even the odd new current generation game port. We’re all looking forward to what they have to show tomorrow.
