There won’t be a Nintendo Direct in June due to complications with Japan’s work-from-home orders to stop the spread of COVID-19, according to Venture Beat. “Nintendo is telling partner developers it won’t hold one of its Nintendo Direct video events in June,” Venture Beat said.
Although many events have been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the company intended to continue with the Direct. Every year since 2013, Nintendo has held a June Direct to release information about new games and consoles, accompanying E3’s flow of releases.
E3 was canceled in March, but many other companies held their events online, so the Direct seemed safe. But the June Direct has still reportedly been canceled. At time of writing, Nintendo hasn’t issued an official statement or confirmed this report.
The Direct likely would’ve revealed what Nintendo fans could expect from the company throughout the rest of the year, along with the rumored Super Mario 35th anniversary remasters for the Switch. “The company was lining up partners and was planning to unveil its first-party schedule for the rest of 2020,” according to Venture Beat.
An article in The New York Times shows the difficulties that Japanese people are facing while working from home. Going against Japan’s technological stereotype, the reporters present an analogical work scenario. “Essential documents are not digitized, and computer systems are obsolete and tied to offices,” The New York Times said.
Japan’s culture of face-to-face meetings and companies having to print more than 100-page documents to apply for telework and handle them in person appear to be major challenges during the pandemic. Nintendo is likely struggling as well, which could explain why the Direct has reportedly been canceled.
