That’s right—there will be no large-scale press conference from Nintendo at E3 this year. Instead, Nintendo will hold closed-door small events for certain press and distributors. That’s great for the media, but what about the folks at home? The word from Nintendo is that they’re looking into “ways to deliver information about our games directly to our home audience around the time of E3.”
They have confirmed a Japanese Nintendo Direct around the event, so presumably we’ll also see one for other regions. The Big Boss, Satoru Iwata, has said that the Nintendo Direct presentations’ global success so far has done a great job of allowing Nintendo to “deliver our messages more appropriately and effectively by doing so individually based on the various needs of different groups of people.”
But wait, there’s more!
“At the E3 show this year, we are planning to host a few smaller events that are specifically focused on our software lineup for the U.S. market. There will be one closed event for American distributors, and we will hold another closed hands-on experience event, for mainly the Western gaming media. Also, I did not speak at last year’s presentation, and I am not planning to speak at these events at the E3 show this year either.
Apart from these exclusive events for visitors, we are continuing to investigate ways to deliver information about our games directly to our home audience around the time of E3. We will share more information about them once they have officially been decided.
During the E3 period, we will utilize our direct communication tools, such as Nintendo Direct, to deliver information to our Japanese audience, including those who are at this financial briefing, mainly focusing on the software that we are going to launch in Japan, and we will take the same approach outside Japan for the overseas fans as well.”
Some might criticize Nintendo’s move as a show of weakness, especially considering that of the Big Three, it’s the only company who won’t be announcing details on a new console. Or, you could see it as a more intimate way to bring the spotlight to upcoming games. There will be plenty of new 3DS and Wii U games to demo at the show—and unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo’s console is on store shelves right now, bringing the excitement of new games to an immediate place of resolution.
Either way, it will be interesting to see how Nintendo’s decision pans out for E3 2013.
