Nintendo not holding E3 press conference in 2017

Once again, Nintendo will not hold a traditional press briefing onstage during E3, the company announced today.

“We will not be hosting a large-scale press conference for institutional investors, analysts and the media,” Tatsumi Kimishima, president of Nintendo, said today during a briefing to discuss the company’s financial results for its 2016-17 fiscal year. Kimishima added that Nintendo of America will provide details “at a later date” on how Nintendo will handle E3.

This is now normal for Nintendo. The last time the company held a classic E3 press briefing was in 2012. Starting in 2013, it decided to forgo the typical theater event in favor of posting Nintendo Direct-style prerecorded videos and running Nintendo Treehouse-hosted livestreams.

Nintendo is likely to focus on the Switch at E3 2017, as well as major upcoming Switch titles such as Super Mario Odyssey, which is scheduled to arrive this holiday season. E3 runs from June 13-15, and Arms is launching the day after the show ends, while Splatoon 2 is coming July 21. Nintendo will probably also provide updates on third-party titles such as Electronic Arts’ FIFA 18 and Take-Two Interactive’s NBA 2K18, both of which are coming to the Switch this fall.

“We have heard that various third-party publishers have much interest in unique features of Nintendo Switch,” said Kimishima during the briefing.

In addition to the Switch, Nintendo is continuing to keep the 3DS platform alive. The company announced today that it is launching the New 2DS XL, a larger version of the Nintendo 2DS, in July for $149.99.

“We will strive to utilize the large installed base of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems in our business to maintain the momentum we have regained over the last year,” said Kimishima, noting that lifetime sales of systems in the 3DS family have topped 63 million units worldwide.