After weeks of rumours, Nintendo has officially confirmed a Direct presentation for this week, but it’s not quite what fans were hoping for.
A Nintendo Direct presentation for this week looked inevitable, between leaked game announcements and the word of various insiders, but now it’s been officially confirmed.
As announced on X, a Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase will take place on Thursday, July 31 at 2pm UK time and 3pm CET in Europe. It will be available to stream on YouTube.
The showcase will span ‘roughly’ 25 minutes and feature ‘information on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch games from our publishing partners’. In other words, don’t expect any updates on first-party Nintendo games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Kirby Air Riders, or Splatoon Raiders.
This might be disappointing for some, especially those hoping for a Metroid Prime 4 release date, but there are many unanswered questions regarding the Switch 2’s third party support.
We still don’t have release dates for Elden Ring or Final Fantasy 7 Remake on the console, while Ubisoft has heavily hinted a port of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is on the way.
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A number of Microsoft published games are also rumoured for Nintendo’s system, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Microsoft Flight Simulator. A PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 port of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 has been rumoured for some time as well.
Beyond those, it’s highly likely some indie titles will get shown. This might be where we get an official release date for Hades 2, following its launch in early access, or ports of UFO 50 and Blue Prince.
As for what we know is coming this year from third parties, Star Wars Outlaws, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Little Nightmares 3 and Borderlands 4 are all set to launch this year on Switch 2. 007 First Light is also coming to the console, but not until 2026.
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