More Nintendo Direct Rumors Point To Partner's Showcase Coming

We are now past the halfway point in February, somehow, and things are already getting crazy in the video game space in more ways than one. Even when you discount the “chaos” that’s going on with Sony and Microsoft right now, no one really knows what’s going on with Nintendo. We don’t know when their next console is coming out or when it’ll be announced. We don’t know whether the games announced for 2024 will be the only “big releases,” and the Nintendo Direct that was supposed to happen this month hasn’t happened yet! It’s all very frustrating for fans and gamers alike.

It doesn’t help that there are still plenty of rumors about when the Nintendo Direct will arrive and what type of Direct it’ll be. In today’s latest rumor, we go to Stealth, who has been open and honest about the rumors he posts and where he hears things.

Pyoro is teasing a Nintendo Partner Direct for next week.

What Jeff Grubb said must have been true. They moved it for Microsoft to get ahead of the backlash, but some (or all) of the multiplat games must be getting announced then. pic.twitter.com/S39nIbOJAp
— Stealth (@Stealth40k) February 16, 2024

For those that don’t know, Pyoro is a well-trusted source, and he was one who actually said the Direct WOULDN’T happen this week. So if he says it’s happening next week, it might be a good idea to listen to him for one reason or another.

As for the fact that this is a “Partner’s Showcase” Direct and not a mainline one, that is something that will be hard to reconcile because fans want more 1st party titles in 2024 for the Switch before it does its “swan dive,” so the next console can take its place.

But let’s be positive about things for a second, okay? While 2024 was a big year for the Nintendo Switch, it wasn’t the best year for 3rd party exclusives. Yes, the Switch did have some exclusives, but they weren’t as numerous as previous years. Right now, we can only think of one 3rd party game that mattered in 2024 on the exclusive front for Switch, and that was a certain prequel from PlatinumGames. Given that we can’t rely on Bayonetta and her franchise to help out the Switch again due to the loss of Hideki Kamiya, that’s a big blow to Nintendo going forward.

That means that they need to showcase that they have some big titles coming out on the 3rd party front to help “soften the blow” of things while also helping take away from the fact that there’s only one new 1st party title in 2024 that isn’t a remaster or remake.

Only time will tell if these rumors are true.