Nintendo cancels big announcement due to massive earthquake that struck Japan

Nintendo

• Nintendo is a Japanese video game company, based in the
  southern Japanese city of Kyoto.
• The company is delaying a promised announcement due to
  a massive earthquake that shook Japan this week.
• The magnitude 6.7 earthquake primarily impacted the
  island of Hokkaido, in Japan’s north, and the death toll has
  reached eight people. Hundreds more were injured or remain
  unaccounted for.

Nintendo was scheduled to make a major news presentation on
Thursday afternoon, but had to cancel the presentation due to the
massive earthquake that struck Japan this week.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Japan’s northernmost island
Hokkaido, far from Nintendo’s headquarters in southern Japan’s
city of Kyoto. Still, the company is delaying both its Japanese
and English language presentations — known as “Nintendo Direct” —
to an unknown upcoming date.

The company announced the change in
a Twitter post on Thursday:

“Due to the powerful earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan, we have
decided to delay this week’s planned Nintendo Direct. We will
provide a new time and date in the near future. Thank you for
your understanding.”

Nintendo regularly broadcasts news announcements through
livestreamed videos on its YouTube channels. These broadcasts are
branded as “Nintendo Direct” — a means of directly communicating
news to fans and press, all at once. 

Nintendo

The Nintendo Direct presentation scheduled for Thursday evening
was planned to focus on “upcoming Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo
Switch titles.” It was speculated that Nintendo would put a
launch date to
its upcoming Nintendo Switch Online Service, which is
scheduled to launch in “late September.” 

For now, the presentation is delayed indefinitely.