When Nintendo announced last week that Zelda will be the only playable game at this year’s E3, they left the door open for a press conference or Direct where they could announce other non-playable games. Seems like that ain’t happening, either.




On Tuesday, June 14, rather than hold some sort of blowout event full of interesting news and trailers, Nintendo will live-stream the new Zelda. Said the company in a press release this morning:

Nintendo’s kickoff to the E3 show happens at 9 a.m. PT Tuesday, June 14, when Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime introduces Nintendo Treehouse: Live, which will be dedicated to a day of live-streamed gameplay of The Legend of Zelda. This will be the world’s first in-depth look at the game, which will also include commentaries by Nintendo developers. The Legend of Zelda gameplay will be streamed from the E3 show floor via Nintendo’s channels on YouTube and Twitch, as well as on http://e3.nintendo.com. The stream will include game coverage, behind-the-scenes info and plenty of fun.


Nintendo has always held that Tuesday morning slot, first for live press conferences and then, more recently, for pre-recorded Nintendo Direct presentations that were always full of new reveals and surprises. This year, for the first time I can remember, they’re skipping that.

While it’s possible they might do some surprise event just before E3 or even later this year—and I’m sure the new Zelda will be cool—it’s yet another bummer for Nintendo fans in a year that’s been full of them.