Nintendo Direct introduces the Switch's "sunset slate" | Opinion

gamesindustry.biz:

Nintendo Direct broadcasts have become something of a fixture of the industry.

They're now the company's default way of sharing news about upcoming software and its development schedule, and unusually for a company which has such a reputation for playing its cards close to its chest, this means that in many ways Nintendo is the most open and transparent of the platform holders regarding its software pipeline.

This week's Nintendo Direct was no exception, giving us clarity on a lot of the release schedule for Switch in the coming year or so.

That transparency can only go so far, though, and the challenge for Nintendo Direct's format right now is the same as the challenge for Nintendo more broadly – how do you communicate with players about the software pipeline when, behind the scenes, more and more of that pipeline is being diverted towards a console you haven't started talking about yet?

To be clear, Nintendo finds itself with a very high-quality problem here. It's just launched Tears of the Kingdom to commercial success and rave reviews – the game is selling gangbusters and will be one of the most-played and most-discussed games of 2023. The company couldn't have hoped for a bigger exclusive title to keep the Switch afloat through what is likely its last major year on the market.

But at the same time, the launch of TotK raises the next question, which is the far thornier matter of how the transition to the company's next hardware platform is to be managed.

Part of the reason why speculation on that front will be intense is because we really don't know what Nintendo actually plans to do with its Switch follow-up; we just know it's something that has to happen fairly soon, or risk losing the momentum behind the