Nintendo's former marketing leads say the company shouldn't rush to reveal the next 3D Mario game if it's not coming for a while yet.
When the Switch 2 was revealed, all bets were on a 3D Mario game being shown alongside it, however, the 3D Mario team showed up with Donkey Kong Bananza, taking the role of the 3D Mario for the system's launch year. And while some may argue Bananza is even better, given the almost nine year gap since Odyssey, obviously the hunger for 3D Mario to return is there, especially since the only mainline title since then has been Super Mario Bros. Wonder (and the short Bowser's Fury mode in the 3D World re-release).
However, Nintendo's former director of marketing Kit Ellis and former manager of creator relations Krysta Yang reckon it'd be a bad idea for Nintendo to reveal a new 3D Mario game too early. In a new YouTube video, Yang says "this is a dangerous game for them [Nintendo] to play," explaining "we've seen the really bad things that can happen" with the revealing early approach. She adds "Nintendo has firsthand seen the detrimental things that can happen, think about Metroid Prime 4, think about Tears of the Kingdom"
With revealing a game super early, Yang explains, "You open yourself up to a lot of scenarios where changes can happen, and will. And now you're going to have to either walk back something you've said or confuse people about something that's happened."
Plus, it sets the fanbase on alert, as every single Nintendo Direct will be met with disappointment if a major title like that doesn't appear – just like with Metroid Prime 4 and Tears of the Kingdom. As Ellis explains, "The game would get announced, people would be happy, and then a year later they're like, 'well, I'm mad again, where's the game?'" adding that "there's no reason for them to jump the gun."
While Nintendo has been known to sit on finished projects for a while, there's a hope within the fanbase that Bananza was actually finished ages ago and that a 3D Mario could arrive sooner than everyone expects, but as always, it's best not to get too invested until there's some concrete info. Especially when Mario games typically have a short reveal to release timeline as of late, as seen with 3D World, Odyssey, and Wonder.
