Nintendo's annual E3 Direct will no longer take place in June this year as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

As originally reported by VentureBeat, Nintendo has confirmed to its partners that it will not hold one of its video events to showcase its latest selection of games for the remainder of the year and beyond. The Direct has been delayed to give developers more time work on first-party titles for the Switch.

Numerous other sources such as Eurogamer and VGC have corroborated the news, with a Direct not looking likely to take place until the end of summer.

If sources are to be believed, then this would mark the first time there hasn't been a Nintendo Direct in June since the video presentations began in October 2011 and the first to skip E3 since 2013.

No Mario blowout

Rumours began to circulate at the end of March that Nintendo was planning to utilise E3 2020 for a huge Mario blowout to celebrate the plumber's 35th anniversary. This included details regarding remasters of almost every 3D Mario game for the Switch in 2020.

Furthermore, a port of Super Mario 3D Worlds from the Wii U and a new Paper Mario game was suggested.

It's worth noting that nothing official has been stated by Nintendo regarding its plans for June.

With Microsoft looking to reveal details of its next generation console on May 7th and Sony reportedly looking to follow shortly after, it does seem likely that the Switch maker will hold off for the time being. 

Still, Nintendo has not announced a major first-party game since its Septemeber 2019 Direct, with the last being a remake of Xenoblade Chronicles.

In the meantime, however, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has found major success, selling more digitally in one month than any other console game ever.