Nintendo’s next console won’t be at E3, nor will most of their games. The company announced today that the upcoming Zelda will be “the focus of Nintendo’s presence at E3" and that nothing else will be playable on the show floor.
Here’s the full statement from Nintendo of America’s PR. You’ll note that it leaves open the possibility that they’ll talk about other games, even if Zelda is the only one they bring to E3.
Nintendo changes its approach to the show every year. This June, Nintendo will focus its attentions on the upcoming game in The Legend of Zelda franchise. The Wii U version of the game will be playable for the first time on the E3 show floor, and it will be the only playable game Nintendo presents at the show, in order to provide attendees a complete immersion. Additional information about Nintendo’s E3 plans will be announced in the future.
So they might have a Direct where they announce and show off other games, but Zelda will be the only game at their booth, and they won’t touch NX until later this year. That move makes sense: why invite comparisons to PS4.5 and Xbox-whatever when they could just hold their own big blowout and get all the attention on their own?
Nintendo also announced this morning that NX will be out in March 2017 and that Zelda is delayed to next year, too. If you were planning on going to E3 to check out Nintendo games, well, you’d better see if your tickets are refundable.