How Nintendo secured the win for Pokémon Legends Arceus.
They were critical in leaving an open field to grant Game Freak's release all of the attention it required.
NintendObs Daily. Tuesday, February 1.
It's undeniable, Pokémon won this round. Again. And again. Pokémon Legends Arceus is the kind of success you would rarely expect for a January, the slowest month of the year for videogames, but the key of this entry's phenomenon wasn't just a clever follow-up to Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Pokémon Shining Pearl a few months prior, this time it was combined with a strategy Nintendo typically reserves for their own blockbusters, issuing lengthy news droughts so all the focus of their players would be turned quite entirely onto a single upcoming game. They did this before to momentous effect for Animal Crossing New Horizons in 2020, did so a little for Metroid Dread but still broke the dam with a Nintendo Direct in time for Tokyo Game Show before its release last year, and just did it now for Pokémon Legends Arceus althrough this month of January.