Via its official Twitter account, Nintendo has announced that it's to host its own live event aptly titled, Nintendo Live 2023. It will take place in Seattle, Washington this September (the exact date has yet to be announced) and will feature "Nintendo Switch gameplay, live stage performances, tournaments, photo ops, and more."The official page promoting the event doesn't get much more specific, but it does state that it will take place in a "large-scale themed area," that the tournaments will feature "top competitors," and that there will be sculptures from Nintendo games for attendees to take pictures with. Though Nintendo Live had occurred before in Japan, this is the first time it's to take place in the United States.This news is particularly salient, given the recent confirmation that the most iconic in-person annual event in video games, E3, has been canceled for this year. Many analysts and commentators are predicting that it likely won't be able to recover, and thus may never return. E3 lost its first big supporter back in 2019 when PlayStation decided it would no longer be attending, and following the Covid-19 pandemic, the event has had a rocky and sporadic couple of years.
Nintendo was one of the earliest proponents of digital pre-recorded presentations, veering away from the usual live showcases E3 was known for. However, Nintendo still had a yearly live gameplay showcase during E3 called the Nintendo Treehouse, and it's clear the company still sees the value of live events as, given the uncertain future of E3, it decided to make its own.
This announcement also raises a lot of questions regarding various Nintendo topics fans are constantly speculating about. Firstly, Nintendo always played a Nintendo Direct for E3. Are we to expect one for this June anyway, or will it be left for September for Nintendo Live 2023? Are we to expect any announcements in this event at all, or will it really just be tournaments and photo ops like the site says? September Directs have also been fairly common throughout the last several years.
We'll simply have to wait and see. The page does say, fortunately, that more information about Nintendo Live 2023 is coming soon. The event announcement also further stirs the pot regarding the rumors that a Switch successor is to be announced (and perhaps even launched) this year.
Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser recently stated that the Switch still has strong years ahead, and now this September event is set to feature Switch gameplay. So either these rumors are false, or it seems Nintendo's next console will have the same Switch branding as this current one.