According to Gematsu, Nintendo is planning a major press conference regarding their highly anticipated and recently revealed new system, the Nintendo Switch. The press conference is said to contain “major details” regarding the latest Nintendo console. The press conference is set to take place on January 12th 2017, as announced by Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima during an apparent financial meeting that took place in Tokyo. The exact times for the Nintendo Switch event is yet to be announced but will be announced sometime soon via Nintendo’s various social media accounts.
The event is going to be open to approved media, financial analysts, and trade partners. Nintendo is planning on holding this event in Tokyo. For those not a part of the industry, the event will be visible to the general public as well in the form of a live stream. There are also plans for public participation and hands on events could be taking place in the United States and Europe at the same time. Details regarding these Switch sampling events have yet to be released but are planned to be announced with more detail some time soon. The event itself is set to discuss a variety of new information related to the Nintendo Switch, which set to be released only two months after the date set for the press conference. Topics of discussion will include: launch date, pricing for the Switch, and details about the games that are going to be released with and for the Switch.
We recently wrote an article regarding the loss in investor interest in Nintendo after the initial Switch announcement. This event is a logical step for the company to try and gain back some of that investor interest that they built up in anticipation of the then NX. Setting the event at such a later date rather than announcing everything all at once also seems like an attempt at keeping the hype alive, so to speak. It builds interest and will keep speculation up, the same speculation that gained the extra investor interest in the first place. What effect the event will have on Nintendo is, at the moment, totally open to speculation.
The Nintendo Switch is set for a March 2017 release.