E3 2013 Nintendo Rumors: Big N Will Pass on 'Large Scale' Press Conference, Says Iwata

In a somewhat surprising move, Nintendo has announced that they will be avoiding big presentations for the year, and instead are focusing on delivering smaller events for any announcements about upcoming software. Satoru Iwata explained the decision at Nintendo's financial results briefing that was held yesterday.

"We decided not to host a large-scale presentation targeted at everyone in the international audience where we announce new information as we did in the past...Instead, at the E3 show this year, we are planning to host a few smaller events that are specifically focused on our software lineup for the U.S. market. There will be one closed event for American distributors, and we will hold another closed hands-on experience event, for mainly the Western gaming media."

Recently, Nintendo announced several new games for the Wii U and 3DS, including Pikmin 3 and a Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past sequel through Nintendo Direct. This appears to be the company's new strategy for deliver news to it's fans, as opposed to lavish press conferences, such as those by Sony to announce the PlayStation 4.

"Also, I did not speak at last year's presentation, and I am not planning to speak at these events at the E3 show this year either...Apart from these exclusive events for visitors, we are continuing to investigate ways to deliver information about our games directly to our home audience around the time of E3. We will share more information about them once they have officially been decided. During the E3 period, we will utilize our direct communication tools, such as Nintendo Direct, to deliver information to our Japanese audience...mainly focusing on the software that we are going to launch in Japan, and we will take the same approach outside Japan for the overseas fans as well."

This certainly is a bold move from Nintendo, but one that makes sense, given that they have already released their next-gen system, and may not have much blockbuster games in the works. Big conferences thrive on big surprises and spectacle, so Nintendo is instead looking for more direct communication with fans to deliver announcements.