January to March always seems to be a dry period for the gaming industry. Many developers and publishers have released their biggest titles during the Holidays or are waiting for their next fiscal year to start to drop some major surprises. So far, gamers have been treated to Dragonball Z: Kakarot, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Darksiders: Genesis, as the biggest titles to release thus far. Besides these titles, indies, and ports, there hasn’t been a major title drop. That’s okay, though, since there are plenty of highly-anticipated releases coming soon such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. In regards to Nintendo, however, there isn’t much to be excited for besides Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It can’t be denied that as of right now, Nintendo has a weak 2020 lineup due to a lack of exciting releases and sparse information from the company.
Yes, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the most desired titles to release this year but besides that, what else is there to look forward to? All we currently know is that No More Heroes 3 and Bravely Default 2 are coming at some point, Xenoblade Chronicles is receiving a Definitive Edition, and that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon has a remaster releasing. Two remasters and two sequels from lesser-known franchises feels off-putting knowing that two major consoles could be launching at the end of the year. Xbox has Halo 6, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and any other launch games while PlayStation has Ghosts of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part 2, and potentially more. It just comes off as a bit of a skiff towards Switch users knowing there are huge titles in the pipeline.
Third-party releases are poised for a massive year ahead, as well. Capcom, CD Projekt Red, Square Enix, and plenty more have works down the line. The problem, though, is that these aren’t coming onto the Switch. With the exception of Bethesda’s Doom: Eternal, no major ports for this year are seeing a version for Nintendo’s hybrid system. There just simply is not enough on the way to keep owners satisfied throughout the year. The only titles that have been announced aren’t of the same caliber of Nintendo’s competitors. Nintendo has little to nothing of major interest for the remainder of the year, as of writing. If there isn’t anything being announced soon, it’s going to be a rough rest of the year.
Ultimately what this means is that Nintendo needs to have some sort of announcements coming soon. It doesn’t necessarily mean a Direct has to happen, but there has to be something. Whether that be a Twitter post, E3 presentation, or third-party trailer reveals, it would be enough to suffice. However, a Nintendo Direct would make the most sense in this situation. 2020 is a fairly barren year without much to look forward to. Of course there are games to look ahead to such as Battle for Bikini Bottom Remastered and Sports Story but it isn’t enough to make this a worthwhile year. When Sony and Microsoft both may be releasing brand new systems alongside major launch titles, it seems odd that Nintendo has nothing in response. Maybe we’ll see an announcement of Bayonetta 3 or Metroid Prime 4 yet it’s difficult to imagine these games could be releasing with little to no information said so far. Hopefully Nintendo is able to reveal something enticing because the rest of the year feels barren.