Since Nintendo had been doing regular directs, we haven't had a massive pandemic... 6 months without a direct and we have one. Coincidence? I think not.

Well all my predictions would be off, of course, but I don't care.  At this point I just want a Direct to happen so all the YouTubers can get back to being their mostly cheery selves.  All this waiting and speculating is making them all crabby and they're exposing their DGAF attitudes a bit.

I guess the biggest question will be whether it'll all be worth the wait anyway.  That's the risk you run, marketing 101 or not, in waiting so late that you build up too much expectation.  They better have at least two juggernauts ready to go for 2020.

The virus may affect production times and release dates.

The Outer Worlds port just got delayed due to the Virtuos team being affected by the coronavirus.

I'm sure Nintendo will announce new games in the Summer, but in relation to E3? I don't know now since E3 itself is cancelled.

Nintendo will likely just create another Nintendo Direct and do Treehouse, but without the E3 label for this year.

Are you trying to imply that releasing the direct merely a week after New Horizons somehow proves that a direct a week prior would "steal thunder" from it? Cause it doesn't, in fact it'll prove the opposite.

As I've already mentioned, New Horizons will get the vast majority of it's LTD sales after the first week as proven by previous AC games. This is after that supposed March 26th direct that'll somehow steal it's thunder. To continue to assert your stealing thunder claim is correct, you'd have to believe the game will drop off hard after the first week following the direct. Either that, or that, somehow, the reasons why the direct would steal thunder prior to release magically disappear just by having it a week after. Needless to say, both these notions are laughable.

Also, the rumor suggest having an Indie Direct just days before New Horizon's launch. That goes against your marketing 101 mantra, though I bet you'll use "they're just small indies so they don't count" as a convenient excuse as you did before with DKCTF. You never explained that btw, why it's fine to steal thunder from smaller games and only bad to do so from big ones.

Obviously I don't know, perhaps that's just when it's ready, but this is irrelevant, because as I've said, it makes no difference when it happens, there will inevitably be game announcements while AC is still selling.

I'm calling bullshit on you saying anything can steal thunder from a big game like Animal Crossing. Doom Eternal wont even, and that's a big game releasing on the same day, so to think news on unknown sized games that are months/years away will is just silly. If you actually read the post you quoted or payed any attention during our earlier conversation, I gave the reasons for this already.

I've not taken marketing class, but I'm pretty sure whether a direct can steal AC's thunder is a more specific topic and not a basic principle. Now are you ever gonna address anything I've actually said or keep pretending to yourself that because you went to a marketing class facts and logic be damned?

Nothing can stop Animal Crossing. I second that for sure. But I also think Nintendo could be trying to follow marketing guidelines to minimize static in the airwaves. Or it could be coronavirus. Or it could be they just aren't ready. Or it could be that this was the plan even before Animal Crossing was pushed out of the holiday window. All I'm saying is that at this point it's all speculation and no one can really claim some sort of inherent rightness about the situation, especially given the fact that the Direct is by no means confirmed at all at this point.

Oh ok, then you're not actually arguing with me, you're arguing with basic common sense and facts and this somehow invalidates everything you say I guess?

lol, that's a new way to not hold one's self accountable for the bullshit they type, and a new excuse to not bother refuting arguments, all in one. Impressive, I'll give you that! Anyway, it's clear you're never going to acknowledge my points and instead continue to bring up irrelevances to avoid doing so. I'd be a fool to continue addressing all that you say while you refuse to do the same, so I'm out... for real this time!

Apologies, that discussion was off topic and nothing of value was added by bringing it up again. The Animal Crossing direct makes me think there wont be one in March, but it also makes it more likely that there could still be one. Said direct bucked the trend of them being in the first half of the month.

A think a General Direct is possible after Animal Crossing, but I don’t think it’s necessary if their next big product is Xenoblade Chronicles DE for early to mid Spring. In that case, their next Direct should focus on that.

Also, a Nindies.

As I have said before, I don’t feel that Nintendo should do more than 1-2 general Directs per year, similar to how they used to do only 1-2 big shows a year: at E3 they would focus on long term plans, ans Spaceworld or TGS they would push their holiday lineup (holiday season goes a bit longer in Japan, so we’d get some Winter games in there too, or games still a while out from localization).

I still don’t think tipping their hand for future updates multiple times a year is going to benefit them in any way since focus will be constantly on future products and not upcoming ones. It’s complete BS that games need 1+ to years of hype. It’s only when sales are poor that future titles need be revealed frequently to make it look like the upcoming lineup is bulkier than it is: it’s an exercise in hotshotting. A once a year look into the future, especially in the dead of late spring, is IMO the only time in the year a healthy company should be tipping their hand for the future. Once the late summer/autumn roles around, their focus should be on actual products they intend to sell in the short term. They shouldn’t distract from that focus.