Nintendo just canceled a big announcement due to the massive earthquake that struck Japan

Nintendo

• Nintendo is a Japanese video game company, based in the southern Japanese city of Kyoto.
• The company is delaying a promised announcement due to a massive earthquake that shook Japan this week.
• The magnitude 6.7 earthquake primarily impacted the island of Hokkaido, in Japan's north, and the death toll has reached eight people. Hundreds more were injured or remain unaccounted for.

Nintendo was scheduled to make a major news presentation on Thursday afternoon, but had to cancel the presentation due to the massive earthquake that struck Japan this week.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Japan's northernmost island Hokkaido, far from Nintendo's headquarters in southern Japan's city of Kyoto. Still, the company is delaying both its Japanese and English language presentations - known as "Nintendo Direct" - to an unknown upcoming date.

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The company announced the change in a Twitter post on Thursday:

"Due to the powerful earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan, we have decided to delay this week's planned Nintendo Direct. We will provide a new time and date in the near future. Thank you for your understanding."

Nintendo regularly broadcasts news announcements through livestreamed videos on its YouTube channels. These broadcasts are branded as "Nintendo Direct" - a means of directly communicating news to fans and press, all at once.

Nintendo

The Nintendo Direct presentation scheduled for Thursday evening was planned to focus on "upcoming Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch titles." It was speculated that Nintendo would put a launch date to its upcoming Nintendo Switch Online Service, which is scheduled to launch in "late September."

For now, the presentation is delayed indefinitely.