July Nintendo Direct removed three games at the last minute claim insiders

Insiders claim there’s a good reason last week’s Nintendo Direct was so disappointing: it’s because Nintendo cut at least three games from the line-up without telling publishers.

Video game rumours have become a cottage industry in recent years, with almost no major annoucement being made without first being leaked earlier. As a result, certain sources have become known as more reliable than others, so when NatetheHate said there would be a Nintendo Direct in late July most people believed him.

He was right too, although in the end it turned out to be a Partner Direct, featuring only third party games, which is not what anyone anticipated.

However, he’s subsequently revealed that not only did he not know it was Partner Direct but neither did the publishers involved, in an interesting insight into how the video game rumourmill works and how close Nintendo, in particular, keeps things to their chest.

According to NatetheHate, third party publishers are told they’re in a Nintendo Direct but not the format of the show, presumably to stop leaks.

Normal Nintendo Directs, featuring first party games, usually always feature at least some third party titles, so there’s no way for publishers to know what the format will be, unless Nintendo tells them.

Nintendo probably tells large companies like Square Enix, who are a close ally and had three titles in the Partner Showcase, but assuming NatetheHate’s source is a smaller publisher it seems they’re told as little as possible.

What’s also interesting is how late in the day Nintendo seems to have made the decision about what would and wouldn’t be in the Direct.

This uncertainty has been common practice since the day of live reveals at E3, with publishers having multiple options that they only decide on literally at the last minute. Which is why even usually good sources can get information wrong when it comes to reveal events.

The Game Business’s Christopher Dring didn’t participate in the initial rumours, but after the Direct he revealed that there were ‘at least three games’ that he was told were ‘100%’ going to be a part of the Partner Showcase.

His source was the publishers themselves, which implies the actual Direct was as big a surprise, and disappointment, to them as it was to everyone else.

Dring gave no indication of what any of the games were, but many fans were disappointed that previously announced games such as Elden Ring and Final Fantasy 7 Remake were not part of the event.

That doesn’t guarantee they were amongst the games cut at the last minute but perhaps the bigger question is why did Nintendo remove them and when will they be revealed?

With the Direct featuring so few big name titles it’s hard to understand why Nintendo went through with the event at all, and didn’t just postpone it to later, but then understanding Nintendo has always been near impossible, even with insider leaks…

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