Caviar F: The 2019 Game of the Year
UPDATE February 28: When Nintendo uploaded artwork for Pokémon Sun and Moon on Friday, the filename originally started with "Niji", before being changed. This may lend credence to that part of the rumor, but I'd encourage remaining skeptical on the rest of it, especially as Nintendo's plans are constantly subject to change. Also, "ni-ju" (two ten) is the pronunciation for the number 20 in Japanese. The original story is below.
A recent alleged “leak” on the NeoGAF message board has purported to basically run the entire Wii U and 3DS lineup for 2016, as well as estimated marketing budgets for the Wii U and 3DS. The source has claimed several games with wacky codenames – who’s down for “Cadillac” this summer? - that could be referring to just about anything. As near as we can figure, all of these rumors are largely bunk.
We’ve reached out to sources familiar with the matter, who indicated that the claimed source from “Nintendo of America Marketing” would actually be from a very small department, as most of the marketing legwork is handled by outside firms such as Golin-Harris. The source seems questionable given that Nintendo of America would have a small pool of targets for investigation, and the total marketing budget would never go down to their level. That’s information that stops at the Bill Trinen level, if not higher.
Another item on the list is a purported 3DS price drop late in the year. Although a plan for a price drop could be in the early stages, it’s not going to be official or 3DS sales would be even more crippled. The Osborne Effect is real. The Nintendo of America marketing department, at best, is likely focusing on plans for promoting Star Fox Zero and Bravely Second at this time and rolling out Pokkén Tournament. They might have a rough plan for what will be at E3 in June (spoilers: NX for days, y’all). They wouldn’t be hammering out anything for the fall and holiday shopping seasons until after E3 when the corporate buyers have had a chance to make their deals.
The presence of humorous-sounding codenames for unannounced games gives the “leaker” an option to say “See, I told you!” when game X or Y comes out for the rest of the year. Not that Caviar F or N-Stars aren’t exciting, but those are so non-specific as to refer to everything from Picross 3D 2 to Nintendo buying the publishing rights to Shin Megami Tensei IV Final (note: will not happen). We can say that Pokémon Rainbow, in addition to being the subject of a previous rumor just before X and Y launched, wouldn’t fit with the naming conventions of the series as it stands now. There’s a better than average chance of there being a Pokémon RPG for the 20th anniversary, but it’s not going to be called “Rainbow”.
We asked a source with knowledge of the matter for their thoughts on the post, and they didn’t mince words: ”With the increasing rumors and 'leaks' that appear every year in the leadup to the first major announcements of the year, fans and gamers should keep a discerning eye. Unfortunately, the recent rumor featuring a Nintendo 3DS hardware price cut six months in the future, and the release of PokemonPokémon Rainbow, are completely unfounded and should be taken with as much salt as possible.”
