Nintendo fans were hit with a crushing blow today, when the Big N announced it would not be holding its normal, large-scale presentation at this year’s E3 press conference. While the announcements will still come, as they always do, what this does mean is that there will be no Reggie storming the stage this year, asserting that his body is ready. No Miyamoto-san appearing from the fog wielding a Master Sword and Hylian shield. No Iwata-san pulling a 3DS from his pocket to the roaring cheers of a packed audience. In other words, none of those exciting occurrences and classic moments Nintendo fans look forward to for months on end.
Instead the company will be holding a series of Nintendo Direct broadcasts, supplemented by a small presentation for business partners and a smaller press gathering at their booth to show off this year’s game demos. Given that Directs occasionally have a tendency to be pretty eventful (like the last one where a sequel to SNES masterpiece The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was announced), we can probably expect the E3 versions to be fairly noteworthy.
Regardless, for avid followers of the Big N, this news is disappointing at best. But shock and letdown aside, when you think about it, it’s really not as big of a deal as it feels like… and it actually makes more sense than you might initially think.
In recent years, Nintendo has taken great effort to improve its direct communication with its many adoring fans, and with the gaming world in general. Iwata Asks is a recurring feature where the company’s president interviews various developers about forthcoming games. SwapNotes, Miiverse posts and SpotPass updates are bringing us news of release dates, DLC updates and even game announcements (like the Virtual Console versions of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Seasons). And, of course, Nintendo Direct allows the company to do just what you’d think – speak directly to gamers about their products and future plans.
While Nintendo is probably one of the more extreme cases, it’s certainly not alone in this new approach. Via YouTube channels and company blogs, more and more gaming companies are going around the “normal” channels of communication, cutting out the middle man and bringing news, updates and trailers straight to consumers. As one of the big three of gaming, it still seems like a bold move to bow out of hosting a traditional press conference, but it’s not really that much of a stretch considering how much the company has grown to rely on these Direct broadcasts over the past year. After all, why not save a lot of time and money and just do the same thing in a more controlled environment? It’s certainly less exciting than a big, live spectacle, but it’s not all that unreasonable from a business perspective.
Taking aside the company’s fairly newfound approach of using Directs to bring its gaming news to the masses, there are a few other reasons that probably went into the Big N’s decision to forgo a traditional presentation this year. As I briefly touched on above, these conferences inevitably require a huge investment of time and money – all precious commodities for a dedicated game company like Nintendo. They also require developers to create on-stage demos, a process which inevitably stalls progress on those titles, even if just for a short while. These points may seem trivial, but Nintendo may rather get the same coverage it always does without making any sacrifices. After all, if new Mario and Zelda details are announced, you can be sure everyone in the press and gaming community will be talking about it, regardless of how the information was released.
There’s also something to the fact that Sony and Microsoft will both be bringing their next generation consoles out to play this year, both of which will inevitably take the bulk of E3 attention. Nintendo’s next generation box is already here, so from this point forward it’s really just about improving that hardware through system updates and new software. Why try to measure a handful of game announcements against two new systems? To that end, taking a more scaled-down approach to E3 2013 is actually pretty savvy.
So what does all of this mean? Other than a decidedly less hype-inducing E3 on the Nintendo front, not a whole lot. To be honest, my initial reaction was something along the lines of, “What the hell?! What is Nintendo thinking, this is a terrible idea and a giant disaster!” But really, that’s not so. This decision really doesn’t mean anything negative for the company itself, it’s just something of a disappointment for its biggest fans.
In truth, the public face of E3 is more a fanfare for hardcore gamers than anything else – and not having a live presentation won’t affect the company’s fortunes whatsoever. Both gaming publications and the rest of the press will still pick up whatever Nintendo news emerges from the company’s various broadcasts, so both gamers and the general public will still get the same news at the same time they otherwise would have. Consumers who were going to buy Mario HD or the next entry in the Super Smash Bros series will still do so.
In actuality, this development is nothing more than a wrench in the works for Nintendo hype surrounding E3, and a low blow to fans who look forward to all the jazz and theatrics of each year’s presentation. You’ll still be able to play Nintendo’s games on the show floor and read our impressions of them. You’ll even still be able to watch Iwata, Reggie and probably Miyamoto make an appearance during the Directs – who knows, maybe a zany skit or the like are still in order. Nintendo as a company will be fine, fans will still have the Nintendo Directs to look forward to, and very little will be affected by the absence of a Nintendo’s live show at E3 2013.
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here – I’m as disappointed as the rest of you, both as a gamer and a member of the press. And by no means am I saying you don’t have the right to be upset or think this is a weird decision or anything of the like. All I’m saying is that there are reasons behind this decision, and that it’s not quite the catastrophe it’s being billed as.
Audrey Drake is a Nintendo Editor at IGN. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can keep track of her wild adventures by following Aminka on IGN, @GameOnAminka on Twitter, or TheDrakeCave on Tumblr. Game on!
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