Nintendo Direct leaks suggest Breath of the Wild 2 may follow Indie World

The longest Nintendo Direct drought ever continues without any major presentations for a variety of games coming to the Nintendo Switch, but that long wait might be finally coming to an end very soon if a believable rumor proves true. It all begins with a new Indie World presentation from Nintendo happening this week. Could it lead to more news about Breath of the Wild 2?

Nintendo announced Monday morning via Twitter that a brand new Indie World presentation would be happening on Tuesday, March 17. This confirms a Venture Beat report from March 10 claiming an Indie World presentation would happen this week — but that same report also claimed that a full Nintendo Direct would come the week after on March 26. That original report predicted March 18 as the date of the Indie World presentation, but it still seems possible that this full prediction could be accurate.

These Indie World presentations highlight upcoming Nintendo Switch games from smaller developers. Previously, ports for Cuphead and Ori and the Blind Forest, along with new games like Cadence of Hyrule and Axiom Verge 2, have been announced during Indie World events. Tuesday's presentation will last about 20 minutes will likely contain some nice surprises, but they won't be for any major Nintendo releases.

While that presentation is exciting on its own for fans of indie games, more casual Nintendo Switch players can rejoice due to the fact that it all but officially confirms that another Nintendo Direct was in the pipeline. The Pokémon- and Animal Crossing-focused Directs made it seem like Nintendo were now averse to doing large, multi-game presentations, but the announcement of this new Indie World showcase confirms that this is not the case.

A Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC physical card sale and an ESRB rating of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition also suggested a Direct was coming soon. The report from Venture Beat has already been proven partially correct. "The next Nintendo Direct is in the works," they wrote. "The publisher hasn’t confirmed the event yet, but it’s in the final stages of putting the video presentation together." Both first- and third-party games will allegedly be included in the presentation, which means new Nintendo games and games from other developers as well.

Assuming this claim is correct, then Nintendo won't announce a Direct presentation until a day or two before, but the presentation will likely take place on March 26 — give or take a day — if it follows Nintendo's previous patterns.

What games will be announced during the next Direct?

The most likely candidates for inclusion are titles or DLC that we already know about. There's the first new character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass 2, Pokémon Sword and Shield's "Isle of Armor" expansion, and more information and release date for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.

Then, we have announced games that Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 that will most likely be shown off once more during the next Direct, especially if they're in the works as fall 2020 games intended to combat Sony and Microsoft's next-gen consoles. Games like Mario Kart 9 and a new Paper Mario are also possibilities, albeit longshots. The Direct will probably also feature titles that no one could see coming.

Venture Beat's report didn't explicitly state what games would be shown off in the next Direct, but it did tease that Nintendo will be "relying heavily on remasters and ports." Could we finally see ports of Wii U games like Pikmin 3 and Super Mario 3D World this year? The best-case scenario is that we get an update on Breath of the Wild 2, but even the worst-case scenario that explains Nintendo's plans for the rest of 2020 is still pretty great.