The biggest gaming showcase of March wrapped up just a few hours ago. During its flagship Nintendo Direct event, the company unveiled several new games for the Nintendo Switch and shared updates on previously announced titles. Fans were especially excited about the reveal of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and new gameplay details for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. As a result, the event’s main broadcast reached a historic peak of over 1.1 million live viewers, the highest ever recorded across Nintendo’s channels.
As previously announced, this Nintendo Direct did not include any details about the Nintendo Switch 2, with the company focusing solely on game reveals. The 30-minute showcase featured a total of 27 titles, including new entries in well-known franchises such as Pokémon, Patapon, and SaGa.
Nintendo Direct’s latest showcase finally revealed gameplay for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, a long-awaited title first announced in 2017. The new trailer introduced the planet Viewros, featuring lush jungles, ancient ruins, and new alien enemies. A major addition to gameplay is Samus’ psychic abilities, which allow her to manipulate mechanisms, solve puzzles, and control beam trajectories in combat. After years of development setbacks, the game is set for a 2025 release.
Another highly anticipated title, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, received new details during the Nintendo Direct, expanding on the information revealed on Pokémon Day. The game will feature a dynamic day and night cycle that changes the atmosphere of Lumiose City, with Trainers emerging at night to battle in designated Battle Zones. These zones function similarly to Wild Areas, with battles taking place on streets and even rooftops. A new battle mechanic, sneak attacks, allows players to gain an advantage in combat. One of the game’s key objectives is the Z-A Royale tournament, where players will compete against skilled Trainers.
Nintendo’s first showcase in over six months got fans very excited. Even before the broadcast started, hundreds of thousands of viewers had already gathered on the official channels showcasing the Nintendo Direct premiere. While its still early in 2025, the event has already become the most-watched gaming/tech showcase of the year, with the company's main channel setting a new viewership record.
Unlike many similar events, the majority of Nintendo Direct's audience gathered on the company's official channels, and there were quite a few of them. The top three were the Japanese, the American English-language, and the Spanish-language channels, with the first two leading by a huge margin over the rest.
More than a third of viewers tuned in to the showcase via the Japanese channel, Nintendo's main one. Although the event itself wasn't a record-breaker in the series, it set a new record for the channel, with over 1.1 million concurrent viewers, an all-time high. The previous record was set during the September 2023 showcase, which gathered just over 900,000 concurrent viewers.
Overall, the event was broadcast across more than 800 channels on major livestreaming platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Kick, with YouTube leading in terms of audience share. At its peak (toward the end of the showcase), the viewer count hit 2,719,476, making it the third-highest viewership in Nintendo Direct history. Only the June 2024 showcase and the one during E3 2021 drew in more viewers.
By the end of March, several major gaming and tech showcases had already occurred, making the rankings more representative. This makes Nintendo Direct's viewership even more impressive: the showcase beat the previous leader, Pokémon Day, by over 12%.
In conclusion, Nintendo’s March Direct has undeniably established the company as a dominant force in the gaming showcase landscape for Q1 2025. With very solid live viewership and a highly engaged audience, Nintendo has set the bar high for other events this year. However, with many major gaming showcases still to come, particularly in the summer and fall, it remains to be seen whether Nintendo can maintain its lead or if upcoming events will challenge its impressive start.
