Slowly but surely, fans of the franchise have been learning Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. Updates have understandably been far and few between, but it seems the next one could be further out. Last year, producer Eiji Aonuma had confirmed a 2022 release window for the highly-anticipated sequel but announced on Tuesday thatZelda: Breath of the Wild 2was being delayed into Spring 2023.
While it may be upsetting for many fans, it’s not particularly surprising. Nintendo already has a plentiful lineup for 2022, includingPokemon Scarlet and Violetin late 2022, and so it’s not like delaying it caused any serious harm. Giving the developer more time to work onBreath of the Wild 2is only a good thing, as it means a more polished experience at launch.
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Of course, that’s not to say that there wasn’t any blowback. Not only are manyZelda: Breath of the Wild 2fans upset, but it seems the delay impacted Nintendo’s stock prices as well. It seems that the overall price fell by 6% on Wednesday in Japan, the day after the announcement, as reported by Reuters. The thing is, this happens every time a game is delayed.
Whenever a game is delayed, there is some blowback from the community and from a financial standpoint. How severely can vary, but this is no real cause for concern partly due to the aforementionedNintendo video game lineupthis year. Furthermore, Nintendo had gained 25% year-to-date come Tuesday’s closing, and so it’s the natural reaction to a highly-anticipated video game being delayed.
Aonuma didn’t give fans much in the way of new content to look at in the meantime, although Nintendo almost certainly will by the end of the year. However, there were a few clips—some mostly treading past trailers—and there was one new scene with Link holding a defunct Master Sword. It’s consumed and broken, and so this may imply thatZelda: Breath of the Wild 2will feature a Master Sword repair quest, but how that all comes together isn’t fully yet known.
At the same time, many are hoping a newZeldagame still releases this year. While there have been some not-so-joking hopes for a Zelda Makerrelease, styled after the popularSuper Mario Maker, many have also expressed a desire to seeWind Waker HDrelease on Switchto “make up” forBreath of the Wild 2’s delay. That’s not impossible, but fans won’t know for sure until more of Nintendo’s second half of its 2022 lineup is hammered out.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2is in development.
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