It has always seemed hard to accurately predict when a Nintendo Direct presentation will happen, but the latest claim is that a Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase will broadcast on Tuesday 28th June 2022. This matches what I have heard.
The broader claim comes from Manual editor Nacho Requena, who shared what he had heard with his viewers in a Twitch stream last night.
“We should have a Nintendo Direct this coming Tuesday,” Requena explained, with thanks to Video Games Chronicle for the translation. “This will be mainly focused on third-party games – that’s what I’ve been told to expect.
“I’ve also been told that some Persona game will be present, though I don’t know which game. I’ve also been told there will be another game that has been available for some time on other platforms… it’s been available for four years now.”
This was then backed up by Tom Henderson, who had expected that a gameplay reveal for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope was planned for this week.
This latest rumbling has come after former IGN presenter and journalist Alanah Pearce, who now works as a games writer at Sony Santa Monica, revealed that she had heard that a Nintendo Direct would broadcast on Wednesday 29th June 2022.
The Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase format was introduced at the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with four presentations that aired in July, August, September and October 2020. Despite their briefer length, they still came packed with second and third-party announcements. However, the format hasn’t been used since.
The announced first-party games that remain without release dates but are still scheduled to launch this year are Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Bayonetta 3 and Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, which had been delayed in response to the war outbreak in Ukraine. Otherwise, Nintendo has already locked-in release dates for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
The last Nintendo Direct was broadcast on 9th February 2022, a 40-minute presentation that had been mainly focused on Nintendo Switch games that were launching in the first half of 2022. That had covered games such as Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, No Man’s Sky, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football, Splatoon 3, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Live A Live and Nintendo Switch Sports.
