When you think about it E3 conference as a hardware maker is supposed to the overall breadth of the hardware platform. So things like third party "megatons!" and showing off third party software is as much a part of these Sony/Nintendo/MS conferences as the 1st/2nd party games themselves. That's part of the whole point of having the "big stage".

But third parties aren't supporting Nintendo or giving them any exclusives. Even Ubi Soft screwed Nintendo with Rayman. And the year before of course we got that EA "unprecidented support" speech, which went nowhere.

So I wonder if (privately) Nintendo's reasoning here isn't "why should we spend a ton of money on a big E3 event when it's really just going to be our games on stage? If we're just showing our games to our fanbase, we can do that much more cheaply with Nintendo Direct".

I think that has something to do with it.

The third party community has largely abandoned Nintendo and maybe throws them a few token ports at best, and even those I'm sure Nintendo is looking at the sales and realizing multi-plats are not helping the Wii U at all. The two big third party IP that Nintendo does have -- Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter are handheld centric and mostly only relevant in Japan, so again the E3 show in America doesn't make sense for those either.

Maybe this is more of an admission from Nintendo that they basically have to do all the work in selling Wii U/3DS in the West, and they can effectively market their Mario/Zelda/DK/Pokemon/etc. games directly to their fanbase with Nintendo Direct ... it's like why bother spending a ton of money on a big Christmas dinner when it's only been your immediate family showing up the last 4-5 years.

I'm sure they don't have another Bayonetta 2 up their sleeves if that's what you mean, but that wouldn't be the major reason for not going to E3.

I think Nintendo's setting itself up for an experiment, and abandoning the traditional way of thinking. I like and hate it because the last time they did this it ended up in the Wii which was great for them but everyone "traditional" shunned them for it and I think that them not showing up at E3 will make everyone point and scream at them.

Conflicted but hopeful.

If the Wii U was getting tons of third party support and Nintendo had some exciting announcements to make on that front, I think for sure they would opt to have a big stage this year.

But that's not the case and largely it's just probably going to be the usual Nintendo games (which will be great of course) and the two Platinum Games most likely, so yeah I kinda get their reasoning.

Mario 3D/Mario Kart/Wind Waker Reborn/Smash Bros/Pokemon primarily appeal to Nintendo fans, and that can be communicated to them through a Nintendo Direct.

Even the whole blue ocean/casual crowd, where it made sense to have a big E3 show to show off to CNN/Time Magazine/etc. and get the word out there about Nintendogs or Wii Fit or whatever ... it doesn't make sense anymore because that audience has largely moved on too, so no point in renting our the big stage. It's probably a good thing anyway that they not spend 20 minutes on Wii Fit or some new casual fad (though it seems to be like Nintendo has stopped chasing this dragon anyway and is just content with making sequels to the Wii/Mii titles and seeing if they still have some life).

I can somewhat understand why they would skip the traditional e3 presentation, but part of me feels like they are waving the white flag in regard to e3. They aren't even going to try to compete directly with sony and ms . I would like them to go all out guns blazing. Theres no way nin direct reaches a broader audience then e3 either.

I hate this fictitious idea that at this point Wii U has no 3rd party support for next-gen. EA is the only one not supporting at this point. Everyone else has multiple games announced. We need to wait for E3 to see if there is a 3rd party ignorance ahead of us.

In reality, its probably just Nintendo realizing that they can have routine cost-effective shows that allow a far more personal delivery of their content than a massive game show presentation.

They will have a Nintendo Direct(s) all around E3 with a ton of info and likely a lot of that will have 3rd party demonstrations. Plus they will still be at E3 in their normal large booth.

Yeah but what's the point of having these games on the big stage? Is anyone going to really be wowwed by Watch Dogs on Wii U on an on-stage presentation when you know Sony/MS have the same game (and probably better looking versions on the PS4/720)?

Everyone fell asleep during the Batman demo on Wii U last year, granted that's an older game, but the point is I think Nintendo probably recoginized in part that no one really cares about multiplats. Probably least of all on the Wii U. All the attention for those types of games is going to be on the PS4/720 versions at an event like E3, that's just the way it is.

I mean if you have something like Final Fantasy VII Remake or Grand Theft Auto V exclusivity or even that type of game is coming with some type of really unbelievable exclusive content, and Square-Enix or Rockstar wanted to do a big blow out, I'm sure Nintendo would've obliged and booked the big stage.

But they probably don't, so why bother with a big show. Nintendo Direct gets the job done as far as sending out the message of showing Nintendo fans their favorite forthcoming Nintendo franchises and getting them excited for much less money. Renting that Nokia theater and the main stage I'm guessing is not cheap, especially for a big corporate event like that.

It will depend on what unique features, if any, Wii U has. But that's not the point. Nintendo is merely doing a cost analysis and the Nintendo Directs in their opinion are providing better returns than the mega-shows. The big stage is now ... the internet. The same people watching the big stage are also watching ND. The same media will report on it. The same articles come out. But, without the massive costs associated with a show where issues and accidents happen.

Plus, you actually have more time and money to show more content.  Previously, Nintendo didn't show much 3rd party even when they had it. Now they can have a ND solely focused to it if they desire. All for FAR less costs with arguably the same results.

me thinks they re opting out because the media has been biased against there showings for years. Nintendo dont need it.

magazines are toilet paper, glorified for the assholes. but i will miss their big show.

They have showed quite a bit of third party content the last few years, last year a lot of time was spent on Batman (rightly or wrongly, lol) and Zombi U.

But they probably don't even have an exclusive like Zombi U this year to show off.

The other thing is Sony/MS probably already have booked up all the "big" third party games for their shows, MS will probably have Call of Duty/Battlefield 4 at their event, Sony might have booked up Assassin's Creed/Watch Dogs for their event, so who's Nintendo supposed to get on their stage?

I think in part this is the reason. If Nintendo had like say Square-Enix banging on their door giving them FF7 Remake exclusive or something, you bet your ass they would likely have a big show this year, because they have someone else who's really investing in their platform and they'd want to reward that by giving them a big stage.

But again if its just Nintendo ... I think it just got to the point where Nintendo said to themselves "well it's just us really, we don't need a big stage to excite our own fans".

I do think definitely it's part of the reasoning behind the change.

Nintendo has the same multiplats as the other systems, and they have no exclusives. This argument makes no sense. Also, Nintendo is going to be at e3.