Nintendo UK Won't Livestream Tomorrow's Direct Out Of Respect For The Queen's Death, Leaving Some British Gamers Proper Miffed

One bit of side chatter amid the various discussions surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's death found gamers wondering how her passing might affect Nintendo Direct season. Nintendo has historically held major Direct presentations in September, but a global event of this magnitude placed some gamers' eyes on the video game company to see how they would respond.

can’t believe some people’s first reaction to the queen of freakin england dying is “this will greatly affect nintendo direct season” lmao https://t.co/stoUlWMa1d

— ジェヌキ 🪐 Jenuki!! 🌟 (@JenukiDa) September 8, 2022

This morning, gamers got their answer: There will indeed be a Direct streaming tomorrow morning, but not in the U.K. Instead, Nintendo U.K. will put the Direct up as a regular YouTube video at 4 p.m. U.K. time — one hour after the stream begins.

As a mark of respect during this period of national mourning, we will not livestream tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct. It will be published as a video-on-demand on our YouTube channel at 16:00 (UK time) tomorrow.

— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) September 12, 2022

This struck many as an odd and essentially meaningless gesture on Nintendo U.K.'s part. Brits who want to watch the Direct live can easily do so by visiting another one of Nintendo's YouTube channels.

Even if there were a hypothetical fan who insisted on only watching on the Nintendo U.K. YouTube channel, they'd simply have to wait one hour, provided they weren't completely spoiled on the Direct's contents by that point.

What’s the difference between live streaming it and just posting it as a video lol

“Out of respect, you cannot be hype in real time. You must wait until the designated time to be hype.” https://t.co/PBZPY9IeMR

— Colin (@IntroSpecktive) September 12, 2022

this is the funniest fucking thing. like" yes thank you nintendo the queen was always known for hating the livestream versions of NintendoUK Directs, this will be very respectful" https://t.co/WNxCaYvFj9

— i'm alice #Sanstember (@HEYimHeroic) September 12, 2022

Wario insisted, he can’t stop crying https://t.co/g7i5Aq521C

— Bill Corbett (@BillCorbett) September 12, 2022

Nintendo U.K.'s plan strikes an odd middle ground between delaying the Direct entirely – as journalist Jeff Grubb reported was being considered on September 8th – and forging ahead as planned.

Clearly, Nintendo chose the latter option but came up with something to acknowledge the Queen's passing, even if that gesture is easily circumvented by British gamers who can stomach both mourning the Queen and being excited about video games.

One wonders if Queen Elizabeth II would have wanted such an action imposed on her fellow British gamers. The Queen was, of course, a Nintendo fan and notably had a gold-plated Wii on which she presumably smoked her grandchildren in Wii Bowling.