The rumor mill can slow to a halt, as Nintendo has finally announced a Direct, albeit through its external partners. On Wednesday, Nintendo will host a Partner Showcase Direct on its channels.
Nintendo’s Partner Showcase will air on February 21 at 6 a.m. PT / 9 a.m. ET on its YouTube channel. The company says to expect around 25 minutes of info, focused on Nintendo Switch games arriving in the first half of 2024 from publishing and developing partners.
No switch-up
So yes, let’s just get this out of the way now: with the words “Partner” and explicit emphasis on the external side of publishing and developing, I would not expect any sort of big Switch 2 reveal or anything. Heck, even a reveal of something like Metroid Prime 4 is likely out of the cards.
If you’re looking for the regular reason to over-hype yourself, though, there’s always Hollow Knight: Silksong. More realistically, studios like Level-5 have been making regular appearances at shows like these, and that company in particular pushed a big batch of games into 2024. I’d put some good odds on Level-5 showing up, though to be clear, that’s just speculation on my part.
Otherwise, expect a lot of non-Nintendo games coming to Switch. It’s an interesting choice, seeing as this is Nintendo’s first Direct of the year, and the same time as they’d usually host a big Direct to kick it off. It’s a shame the company isn’t putting any of its own stuff into the mix, and at 25 minutes compared to a hopeful 40 or so, I imagine we’ll still hear speculation about a full Nintendo Direct long after.
At least for now, we can spin down the rumors and look forward to seeing what’s hitting Switch soon, as it enters its seventh year of life. We’ll see what’s in store at 6 a.m. PT / 9 a.m. ET on February 21, 2024.
