15 Years After Satoru Iwata's First "Directly to You": How Nintendo Direct Killed E3 and Reshaped Gaming
On October 21, 2011, without a massive Los Angeles stage or a live orchestra, Nintendo uploaded a pre-recorded 37-minute broadcast titled Nintendo Direct. Fifteen years to the day after that inaugural presentation hosted by Satoru Iwata in Japan and Reggie Fils-Aimé in North America, a format born out of hardware urgency has permanently replaced traditional trade show press conferences across the entire video game industry.
October 21, 2011: The 37-Minute Broadcast Born to Rescue the 3DS and Wii U
In the autumn of 2011, the Kyoto company was navigating a turbulent transition. Months earlier, its Wii U reveal at E3 2011 had left both casual players and financial analysts confused as to whether the GamePad controller was a standalone console or a tablet peripheral for the original Wii. At the same time, the Nintendo 3DS had undergone a steep August price cut to rebuild momentum ahead of the holiday season.
Convinced that traditional press briefings and financial media filters were distorting messages meant for players, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata chose to bypass the middlemen altogether. Extending both hands toward the lens with his signature "Directly to you" gesture on October 21, 2011, Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aimé detailed the 3DS system update introducing 3D video recording, new StreetPass Mii Plaza puzzles, and fresh gameplay footage of Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7.
From Walking Away From E3 2013 to Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto's Puppet Skits
What began as a modest status update quickly evolved into Nintendo's primary strategic stage. In June 2013, the company made a move that many industry pundits initially dismissed as a sign of retreat: Nintendo abandoned its physical live conference at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, replacing it with a pre-recorded Nintendo Direct @ E3 2013 that unveiled Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.
Crucially, Satoru Iwata, a legendary former HAL Laboratory programmer turned chief executive, infused these digital briefings with a self-aware warmth unheard of among corporate executives. Whether staring silently at a bunch of bananas before cutting to a Donkey Kong trailer, trading choreographed martial arts blows with Reggie Fils-Aimé at E3 2014 to reveal Mii Fighters, or transforming into Jim Henson Creature Shop puppets alongside Shigeru Miyamoto for the E3 2015 Digital Event, Iwata turned corporate messaging into appointment viewing.
Within a few years, the very competitors that had mocked Nintendo for skipping live auditoriums adopted the exact same blueprint: Sony debuted its first State of Play in March 2019, Microsoft launched its Developer_Direct showcase in January 2023, and the Entertainment Software Association officially shut down E3 in December 2023.
From "Everyone Is Here!" and Metroid Dread to the Nintendo Switch 2 Era
Following Satoru Iwata's passing in July 2015, the broadcast evolved into a rapid-fire showcase built around surprise shadow drops and "one more thing" finales. Across fifteen years of broadcasts, several milestone reveals stand out in Nintendo history:
- June 12, 2018 (E3 2018): Masahiro Sakurai's "Everyone is Here!" reveal for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, bringing back every fighter in the franchise's history since 1999.
- June 15, 2021 (E3 2021): The on-screen "Metroid 5" title card unveiling Metroid Dread, nineteen years after Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance and more than fifteen years after the project was first rumored on the Nintendo DS.
- August 19, 2024: Shigeru Miyamoto opening the Nintendo Museum Direct in Uji, Kyoto, by recreating Iwata's iconic "Directly to you" hand gesture.
- April 2, 2025: The dedicated Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 showcase, which detailed the new hybrid hardware, the GameChat button, and Mario Kart World, setting the stage for a generation where major third-party releases like Monster Hunter Wilds on Nintendo Switch 2 share the spotlight with standout Nintendo Switch 2 indie games.
My Take
Back in 2011 and 2013, plenty of commentators assumed Nintendo was hiding behind pre-recorded videos because it could not compete with Sony and Microsoft on a massive Los Angeles stage. In hindsight, Satoru Iwata was simply a decade ahead of the curve. He realized before anyone else in the executive suite that spending tens of millions of dollars on an auditorium packed with men in suits and awkward celebrity cameos did nothing for players at home, and that a tight, forty-minute broadcast speaking directly to fans would hit ten times harder. I still miss the era when Iwata and Reggie were willing to make fools of themselves on camera, whereas modern broadcasts feel far more clinical and regimented to the second. Yet fifteen years on, nothing else in gaming replicates the collective jolt when that red Nintendo Direct screen lights up.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles 'Grimtag' Ronchain is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
