The upcomingNintendo Directthat was widely rumored to be happening next week is reportedly getting delayed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away Thursday at Balmoral Castle, Scotland. The decision is said to come straight from theNintendoheadquarters in Tokyo, with this development suggesting that fans now have a little longer to wait for more official news onThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildsequel.According to previous reports, the incoming Nintendo Direct was originally scheduled for next week. Though the company most often holds its video broadcasts on Wednesdays, this particular Direct could have happened as early as Monday due to its proximity to this year’s Tokyo Game Show. Insiders previously claimed that the September Direct will largely or exclusively revolve around the next entry inThe Legend of Zeldafranchise. Among other things, Nintendo is expected to reveal theofficial title ofBreath of the Wild 2at the event.RELATED:PlayStation Store Adds Black Lives Matter PS4 ThemeThe decision to delay the next Nintendo Direct has yet to be relayed to the company’s distributors, according to Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb. Nintendo publicly schedules its live streams only a day or two in advance, so the fact that it hasn’t yet announced its next Direct means that this purported postponement is unlikely to ever be officially confirmed, even if the report is accurate.
The move itself might seem unusual given the unrelated nature of the two events, but Japanese game publishers already have a track record of rescheduling their announcements due to both national and international affairs. Two years ago,Sony reportedly delayed its PlayStation 5 Showcasefollowing the death of George Floyd. While the postponement happened before the event was formally announced, so it was never official, the company expressed public support the resulting Black Lives Matter movement soon afterward.
Furthermore, this Tuesday marked four years since anotherNintendo Direct was delayed over the 2018 earthquakein Hokkaido, Japan. On that occasion, Nintendo pushed back its already-announced event by an additional week. If that decision is any indication, the industry giant should still hold its next Direct broadcast before the end of this month.
The situation potentially gets more complicated in light of the upcomingTokyo Game Show 2022, which is scheduled to start on Thursday, September 15th. Assuming the next Direct wasn’t meant to be solely focused on theBreath of the Wildsequel and given the originally reported timeline for Nintendo’s stream, some Switch publishers might have to make changes to their TGS lineups. Nintendo itself, however, wasn’t set to attend the trade show happening in its home city for the second consecutive year, so the contents of the next Direct are unlikely to change irrespective of its timing.
MORE:The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 Could Learn from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Legendaries
