Nintendo’s E3 Direct is confirmed for June 15

Nintendo has confirmed its E3 Nintendo Direct will take place on Tuesday, June 15.

The 40-minute live stream will start at 9am PST / 6pm CEST and focus on Nintendo Switch software “mostly” releasing this year, the company said.

Immediately after the Nintendo Direct, the company will stream roughly three hours of deep dives on gameplay for a handful of Switch games in Nintendo Treehouse: Live.

According to a Bloomberg report published last week, Nintendo is planning to announce new Switch hardware ahead of the main E3 show, which takes place from June 12-15, giving developers room to showcase games for the system at the all-digital show.

So far the company has only two 2021 non-Pokémon first-party releases publicly announced: Mario Golf: Super Rush and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, which are both planned for release in June.

The Pokémon Company recently announced release dates for a trio of upcoming Nintendo Switch games. DS remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl will be released on November 19, 2021, ahead of open-world game Pokémon Legends Arceus on January 28, 2022.

Earlier this year, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma apologised to fans for the lack of updates on Breath of the Wild 2, which still does not have a confirmed release date following its announcement in 2019.

Nintendo could also share more details on Splatoon 3 during its E3 2021 Direct. The third game was announced earlier this year with a 2022 release.

Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3 are also yet to be shown publicly since their announcements several years ago.

President Shuntaro Furukawa recently said that Nintendo will invest in more original games in the future, in addition to supporting its core franchises.

Over the past 20 years, the company’s most significant original IP launches were Splatoon (2015), Wii Sports (2006) and Pikmin (2001).

Speaking in a Japanese interview with Nikkei (paywall), Furukawa said the company would commit to creating more original game franchises in the future, and emphasised that the Switch firm would need to continue to innovate in order to maintain its relevance within the increasingly competitive home entertainment marketplace.

“With the expansion of time spent at home, the range of ‘entertainment’ as an object of consumption is expanding,” the president said.

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Nintendo says it will focus on more original game series in the future

Furukawa says the company intends to create new IP, in addition to supporting the likes of Mario

“Games are not a necessity of life. In order for customers to choose games in their finite time, they have to be interesting. Competition is tough, and I am not optimistic.

“I myself am looking at and studying various forms of entertainment. In the future, we will focus on creating new game series as well as long-sellers such as Mario and Zelda.”