Nintendo Direct confirmed for June 28 with 25 minutes of third-party games

A new Nintendo Direct mini will air Tuesday, June 28 with "roughly 25 minutes" of details on upcoming third-party Switch games.

Nintendo announced the Direct partner showcase this morning, confirming ceaseless rumors that the company would host another event as a follow-up to the Xenoblade Chronicles 3-specific Direct that aired just a week ago. If something is rumored long enough, eventually it'll have to be real, right?

The Direct Mini starts tomorrow at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BST and will be hosted on Nintendo's YouTube channel as per usual. 

The stage is wide open with big-hitters like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Metroid Prime 4 off the docket. We can only assume that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 won't be featured in tomorrow's show since developer Monolith Soft only just dropped a boatload of information in its own Direct. This leaves room for plenty of other third-party games, potentially including follow-ups on some of the games shown at the full-fat February Direct. 

It's a little greedy, but additional updates or more footage for Bayonetta 3 and Hollow Knight: Silksong would certainly be welcome, as both have graduated from mere myths to Actual Real Things in just the past few months. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is just days away and may drop some more monsters, we haven't seen Ubisoft's Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope in some time, and the Switch versions of games like Marvel's Midnight Suns and No Man's Sky are still up in the air. There's plenty of space for surprises, too, which may end up being the most exciting parts of the show. 

It's possible Nintendo will host another showcase for its own games sometime soon, but for now, the June 28 Nintendo Direct will help round out the E3 2022 schedule, which isn't technically E3 2022 at all.