Initially canceled due to threats to other fans and Nintendo personnel, Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo is back! Well, kind of. In place of the in-person event that was set to take place on January 20 and 21, Nintendo is taking the event online. Not only that, but they now also have an excuse to try and unload the merch that they prepared for the event. Let’s take a look.
2024 Iteration of Event
As I mentioned previously, as things stand right now, Nintendo Live will not be an in person event in Japan in 2024. The majority of what was planned - demos, live stage shows, tournaments, something related to the 40th anniversary of the Famicom and more - have been canceled. However, the musical aspect of the event, featuring Zelda and Splatoon, remains but is going to be online only. The Zelda concert kicks off on Friday, February 9 at 8:00 p.m. (JST) and will last for 30 minutes. The Splatoon 3 “Bunker Live Roar” concert will run roughly 40 minutes and starts on Saturday, February 10 at the same time.
Luckily for fans outside of Japan, this isn’t going to be a Japan only affair. English speaking regions (NOA, NOE (UK), NOAUNZ) have confirmed that the concerts will be available on YouTube. They will be broadcast a few hours AFTER the Japan, but that could be to implement some kind of English translation or interpretation depending on if there will be people speaking on stage.
Merch
Given how late it was when Nintendo canceled the event, I think it is very reasonable to believe that they had all of the merchandise at least ordered, and maybe even on hand. For a refresher, the event was planned to kick off on January 20, 2024. It was officially canceled as of December 7, 2023, just ONE DAY after the registration closed. With the end of the year holidays factored in, it is very possible that the company had reached the point of no return with the merchandise purchased for the event.
What should be done with all of that merch? Well, sell it per usual after the fact, which is exactly what they did. Starting on January 24, Nintendo began offering the Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo lineup of goods via the My Nintendo Store online in Japan. For a complete look at the lineup, you can check out our article here which contains images of everything directly from Nintendo. Below, you can see some photos of what I picked up. As with every t-shirt and piece of merch I’ve purchased from Nintendo while living here in Japan, I’m always impressed by the quality and things are no different here. These were a bit pricey, but worth it to me.
Conclusion
As someone who registered for the the show, I was naturally disappointed when I heard it had been canceled. I completely understand the line of thinking. Nintendo is a cautious company and something like this is absolutely something that they should be cautious about. I like that they found a way to salvage at least part of the event, even if it is just through these online concerts and merch.
But let’s turn things over to you. Will you or did you check out the Zelda and/or Splatoon concerts? What do or did you think? What do you think about the merch? Sound off in the comments down below. We’ve love to hear from you.
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