We all knew what the video was about when we saw the thumbnail and ominous title – “Launch Timing Update”. If Nintendo was announcing a release date for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, it would be either headlining a Nintendo Direct or drop in a trailer with an exciting action shot for a thumbnail. We’d get some official shots drop into our inbox shortly after the fact…
But nope, it was a black background and white text, the classic ‘disappointment within’ look, preparing us for the inevitable delay to Spring 2023.
To be fair, at least Nintendo hasn’t copied the CD Projekt Red approach like so many others, tweeting a letter with a bright yellow background. As with previous delays in the series, we had series producer Eiji Aonuma making an appearance and breaking the news as gently as he could. Heck, he even got a sharp-lookin’ new haircut for the occasion.
Nintendo also couldn’t resist the urge to drop in a little tease, which was a genuinely cool move. It was a close up look at Link in the ‘sky’ world; he’s rocking tattered clothes, long nails and a gnarly broken Master Sword. What does it all mean? Well, that’s for fans to figure out!
The delay hurts, yes — especially for those of us who had dared to dream of spending this year’s Holiday season snuggled up with a brand new Zelda adventure — but some of us are smug right now, as plenty predicted this would happen.
Assuming it does hit that Spring 2023 launch window (and you can be sure that Nintendo will want to squeeze it in before the end of the financial year), it will be six years after its predecessor
The Legend of Zelda mainline 3D games pretty much always miss their initial release targets, and producing a sequel to one of the all-time great games will have Nintendo striving for the very highest of standards. Assuming it does hit that Spring 2023 launch window (and you can be sure that Nintendo will want to squeeze it in before the end of the financial year), it will be six years after its predecessor.
As disappointed as we may be, there’s also excitement that the development team is taking the time to do something truly special. As a seasoned game developer once said (maybe), a rushed game is forever a turkey, unless it’s patched up the wazoo; a delayed game is off the hook from Day One, innit. Might be paraphrasing that one, but you get the gist.
Anyway, it was only in January that we posted a cheeky poll asking if you all genuinely thought the game would land in 2022. As it turns out, just under half of the 11,000 readers that responded had faith of a sort, even if more of you went for the ‘80% chance’ option:
So, let’s have some fresh polls to think about. Firstly, a repeat of last time for fun — were you a smarty pants that looked at series precedent and said “nah, not hitting that date”? Be honest, because we’ll know if you’re not!
Beyond that, how disappointed are you about the delay? And do you think BOTW2 — or whatever it ends up being called — will land on its new target of Spring 2023? (Let’s say that’s from 1st March to 30th June, although like we say, we’d expect it to appear before the end of the 2022-2023 financial year.)
Have at it in the polls and comments below!
