There’s no denying it — the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is still a major date on the gaming industry’s calendar.
Up for debate, though, is the importance of attending the actual expo in Chiba’s Makuhari Messe convention center itself. Instead, the practice increasingly looking like all but a requirement for game makers is livestreaming each and every tidbit of news.
Nintendo has long shunned TGS, and now that the Kyoto-based game giant’s Direct streams have gained heavy traction among fans, the company has even less incentive to attend. Just two days before TGS kicked off, Nintendo pressed play on its latest Direct, which ended with news just short of a bombshell — The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel to 2017’s groundbreaking Breath of the Wild, would hit shelves May 12, 2023.