So.. this new Nintendo thing of announcing games so close to release - what's your take?

[Deleted member 17207]

I prefer it.

I never understand the hysteria of "Nintendo hasn't announced anything - therefore they have nothing to show" which you see in all those Direct threads. There hasn't been a single week where I haven't had something to play on Switch. As long as there's no lull, I'm happy to find out about a new game coming out, and then learn it's coming in a month or two. It's more exciting, and it prevents people from asking questions like "where's Metroid 4"? every fucking time.

 

[Cyanity]

I like knowing what's coming down the line so I can have something to look forward to. Not a fan.

 

[RadzPrower]

Love it! Keep it!

Games these days are too often a casualty of their own hype, so having a game that's essentially gold when its revealed really helps to keep expectations realistic (assuming somebody's not fantasizing about a hypothetical game, but that's on them).

 

[Curufinwe]

I'm old enough to remember Nintendo being criticized by Wired for revealing a bunch of "vaporware" like a new 3D Mario Game in a January, 2013 Direct.

Super Mario 3D World came out in November of the same year.

 

[dep9000]

I like it. Look at what happens when you announce games years in advance. It does sour people. I think Sony and Microsoft may start copying Nintendo's approach. It seems to be working. The Switch is selling incredibly well this year.

 

[filterfilter]

I think Age of Calamity proved that ultimately it is a great concept. Absolutely nobody was expecting that announcement, and I think it's really invigorated spirits, especially since it's only two months away. Now, imagine if the 35th Celebration hadn't been leaked. Epic.

 

[Dyle]

It's nice. Announcing games long before they're ready requires a ton of extra work that takes away from the final product. Not everything needs to be quite so close to the release date but overall I much prefer later, more complete announcements than being stringed along for years and years with half baked teases and delays.

 

[GattsuSama]

I liked it with a game like the HW sequel since I wasn't even aware. No rumors had come out.

I HATED it for games like the Mario All Stars, Pikmin 3 and Metroid PRime Trilogy (if true) since we knew, at times for year(s), these games existed.

 

[Solid SOAP]

I love it. I much prefer being surprised by a quick release with limited promotional materials, thus limited opportunity to spoil the experience, to waiting years for a game to come out.

 

[coconut gun]

its objectively better than multi-year hype cycles

 

[King Kingo]

It's a smart cost-cutting measure. Spend less on marketing and advertising for their first party titles with fewer announcements for a better return on investment.

 

[Peleo]

Hate it. I already felt the normal 6 months to 1 year schedule Nintendo had was a bit too close to release, less than 3 months is even worse.

For me the sweet spot would be between 1 and 1,5 years: enough time to always have things to look forward to but not enough to lose excitement.

I have a feeling this trend will continue moving forward. From a business perspective, it seems it has been at least not detrimental to sales or momentum.

 

[Vampirolol]

I don't like it. I spent money on the console, the online service, gaming is my passion so I like to know what's coming a year in advance.

 

[linkboy]

I prefer it.

I hate it when a game is announced two years before it'll be released. See Breath of the Wild 2 as a perfect example.

I'm well past the point of being hyped for games and such. I just want to know when it'll be released and when I can play it.

 

[Moara]

It's cool when there isn't bullshit caveats like manufactured scarcity

 

[RadzPrower]

For me the sweet spot would be between 1 and 1,5 years: enough time to always have things to look forward to but not enough to lose excitement.

Click to shrink...

If everything gets on the same schedule, you should still always have something to look forward to as theoretically there's always going to be something a couple months away from release being announced.

That said, it doesn't work if your interests are very narrow as you may only be interested in one game every year or two...not sure why you're buying a console if you're only buying one game every year or two though.

 

[GARlock Spiral]

I really would prefer a Nintendo direct at least

 

[Squirt]

i like it. might not be right for every situation, but getting an announcement, then being able to play it within a month is fun

 

[P-MAC]

It's great, there's no benefit to knowing of games ages in advance apart from to hype yourself up for longer which can only decrease enjoyment.

Makes things more surprising too like "hmmm I might buy that....wait holy shit it's out THEN? I'll preorder now".

As opposed to game announcements being "I'll think about whether I want this a few months down the line ,it's kinda irrelevant now"

I'm sure it helps them too, in the sense of making people focus on the immediately upcoming games instead of distracting them with distant ones.

 

[Ultima_5]

I️ prefer it and wish more developers would follow suit. I️ don't need year(s) long ad hype for a game At this point

 

[Apopheniac]

The Mario ports being announced two weeks beforehand cuts it a bit close for my tastes, though it's understandable that the announcement was pushed back. A couple of months for a heads up is fine, I think.

 

[Deleted member 25721]

I strongly prefer it to years-long hype cycles.

Click to shrink...

This. Announce it ahead 6 months tops.

 

[HylianSeven]

It's kind of neat, although I think ideally it should be maybe 1-2 "big" games announced way ahead at a time (for instance BotW2 and Metroid Prime 4), and others announced so close to release like this. They've done that multiple times this year, even closer to when COVID started. Clubhouse Games was announced only a couple of months before release. Paper Mario, Mario 3D All-Stars, and Hyrule Warriors also got this treatment.

I feel like they will never do two week announce-to-release time for new games though, that was only a thing for a collection of HD remasters of old games.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

I think it's fine, but there's something fun about looking forward to what's happening later in the year. Either way, I feel okay about it, but speculation on big franchise releases is part of the fun.

 

[werezompire]

To transpose it to another company, I'd much rather hear nothing and then have Atlus come out with a killer trailer and say "Persona 6 comes out in 3 months, worldwide" than what they did with Persona 5 and with SMT5 and with Re:Fantasy where we hear about the games early on in development and it feels like the game will never come out.

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

I'm fine with it because I remember they've done this for a long time and it isn't new at all. They revealed Mario + Rabbids like 3 months before release officially (even if it was leaked), and they've done it before. I remember thinking in 2009 that it was strange they sent Excitebots out to die 2 months after reveal

 

[Grand Galvantula]

"...and it's available now/later this month!" has been and will always be preferable to revealing a game with a boring CG trailer several years before release because the actual game isn't ready to be shown to the public yet.

Dragging a hype cycle out for several years just causes fatigue, especially if the game gets delayed. I'll be way more hyped for a game if I learn of its existence and that I can play it in the same year.

 

[Right]

I prefer to have an event where everything is announced

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Reminds me of how Diddy Kong Racing came out of nowhere. Nothing entirely new for Nintendo.

 

[Le Dude]

Eh, this is a little short.

I don't have a ton of time for gaming, so it's kind of nice to know what to anticipate. I just finished Paper Mario and was about to dive into Xenoblade, but now Mario is getting dropped next week and in just two months there's Hyrule Warriors: AoC.

I think six-to-twelve months is pretty good.

 

[daripad]

I prefer when they do the E3 cycle, in which they announce a game with a decent trailer, and then the next trailer is the full reveal when they go all in on the details of their games.

These shorter announcement-release cycles are good for the more casual games though, I was surprised when Clubhouse Games and Ring Fit Adventure got announced, they don't need the longer cycles and they are great games.

 

[mk_68]

They don't really need to announce a new mainline Zelda game and Mario years in advance.. you know they're coming.

Although feedback is always useful from trailers and demos.

Click to shrink...

You aren't wrong but is it a Zelda announcement without the feeling of excitement but then dread that you won't play it in at least a couple years lmao. However sometimes bigger games can excite a fanbase or keep a fanbase interested in the console. I think there is something to be said about that and the impact it has on consumers. So for instance we had to wait about a year for Mario Odyssey. For me to see that 6 second clip in the reveal of the Switch in 2016 l think left me more excited for the Switch than if they didn't show it. So even though I knew a Mario game was going to come eventually I got to see tangible evidence of it before the system's launch. My hype for the Switch was so high cause I saw BOTW and Mario Odyssey before it's launch. It was like Wii level hype(for me) and there was something similar there too if you watch the 06 E3 Presentation and announcements. We got Zelda, Mario, Metroid Prime and Smash before launch. 3 of which had a year plus hype cycle. The hype around that console went beyond just the motion controls. You knew these games would come eventually but you got to see them before the launch of a system so you knew they were coming soon or at least felt that way. There was even a time where we though Metroid, Mario and Smash were coming out within 5 months of each other until Brawl was delayed to 2008.

Maybe I'm just off base but there is something to be gained for 1-2 year long hype cycles depending on the timing and the games. Definitely no hype cycles more than 2 years so we agree there lol.

 

[Exellus]

I prefer it. If any console/platform can run something like this, but with like a once per month cadence, I think that would be perfect.

 

[SirNinja]

I'm not sure Nintendo should necessarily reveal everything that way, but I honestly love that they did this for Hyrule Warriors AoC. Was a genuine surprise, and the close release date was the cherry on top. Hoping they have some more reveals like that in the queue.

 

[xxbrothawizxx]

I like the months (4-6) long hype train more, but I'll take it. Some of that preference is the general love for big directs that knock it out if the park.

 

[Jave]

I like it. That way we can still get excited and we don't have to wait nearly as much. Also a much lower risk of the game getting cancelled.

Sometimes I feel certain companies spoil their consumers too much by announcing their stuff way too early. Not just video games, but movies and TV shows as well.

 

[Schreckweg 5000]

eh, it's weird times

Click to shrink...

One and done

 

[lovecatt]

I like it. I still want the 1yr-6mo promo cycle a couple of times a year though

 

[HellofaMouse]

console manufacturers cant ever get this right. they either announce stuff 3 years in advance, or just 3 months.

12 to 18 months is the sweet spot in my opinion.

 

[zero_suit]

I strongly prefer it to the multi-year hype cycles.

 

[iceblade]

I strongly prefer it to the multi-year hype cycles.

Click to shrink...

Same here. By the time it's announced, you don't have to wait very long, since you'll have done your waiting without knowing or realizing anything, and by the time you buy it you're still excited for the release vs having had that excitement fade away over time. I wish more companies did this, tbh.

 

[ZugZug123]

I don't care about hype cycles and the game I pre-ordered is going to be out in 2 weeks, not 4 months with a chance of delay. What's not to like?

 

[Tochtli79]

I dislike it. Much prefer the Direct approach of announcing games for the upcoming year and going in depth as the release date approaches. I agree that announcing games that are years away or TBD is better done away with, but I feel like they'd mostly avoided that recently with only a handful notable exceptions.

 

[Mage_of_Cinder]

I prefer the shadow drop announcements, I can get more excited for a game coming out in a few months rather than a few years.
Heck, some games are announced so soon that I forget about them and dont care when they finally get released (*cough*KH3). Or feel like obstacles to the game I really want (like Starfield, before ESVI, Bethesda wants to do Starfield; even though nothing has been revealed about it, and I really want and ES before I'm 40). Or that Babylon Something game that Squenix announced a few years ago at e3, I was excited for it, but now I can't remember the name. I got no problem waiting, but man it's really difficult to get excited.
Sorry about the rant, like what Nintendo is doing.

 

[LegendofLex]

What I'd really like is to have a couple big releases for the next six months in focus at all times, then every other game getting announced about 2 months from launch.

I get why they didn't do that this year, though. Outside of Animal Crossing, no single thing this year really warranted having a lot of info way in advance.