While it was previously speculated that Nintendo would be one of the big companies skipping out on E3 this year, the company has finally come out and confirmed they will not be participating. Given how things have been going for the convention over the last few years, this news is far from surprising.
In a statement to VentureBeat, they said that while they support the event, it did not fit into their plans for this year. 2023 is the first in-person E3 event since 2019. When the 2020 pandemic hit, the show was outright canceled, with a digital event taking place in 2021 before the next year being dumped as well. When E3 did happen in relatively recent years, Nintendo would livestream their digital Nintendo Direct showcase, but would also have a presence on the floor showing their upcoming games.
While their wording tries to leave the reasoning behind them missing E3 open, other reports around the situation point to the second half of 2023 being pretty dry for Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out in May, but the next “biggest” release of the year is Pikmin 4. That’s a game that certainly has fans, but likely won’t be a blockbuster release. Metroid Prime 4 has been completely silent, and while The Super Mario Bros. Movie is on its way, there is no indication of a massive video game release from the company’s mascot this year.
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While Nintendo will have no presence on the floor at E3, we would be surprised if there were no plans for a summertime Nintendo Direct. Just because the company’s biggest franchises have had recent releases doesn’t mean we won’t see DLC announcements for things like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet or releases for smaller games, like a Mario baseball game. We believe Nintendo is still the best company at handling these digital showcases, even with PlayStation and Xbox (who are also missing E3) making strides in their own digital showings.
