Nintendo has delayed the long awaited The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel for Nintendo Switch. Previously expected later this year, the game will now target a release date in spring 2023.
The Legend of Zelda series producer, Eiji Aonuma, has an update to share about the launch timing of the sequel to The Legend of #Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/7OhayhiuM9
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 29, 2022
“We had previously announced that we were aiming for a 2022 release for this game,” series producer Eiji Aonuma said in the video message. “However we have decided to extend our development time a bit and change the release to spring 2023.”
He continued, “For those of you that were looking forward to a release this year, we apologise. […]Â In order to make this game’s experience something special, the entire development team is continuing to work diligently on this game, so please wait a while longer.”
The last we saw of the Breath of the Wild sequel (which isn’t just called Breath of the Wild 2, by the way) at E3 2021 with a grand gameplay reveal. Shown in the trailer was Link’s new long and flowing locks as he runs around the world – there’s some rather nice physics here – some epic new sky island which Link was gliding between, some much more perilous looking skydiving, and a new ability to transform into a drop of water and seemingly teleport up to a higher point in the world.
The Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ was announced back at E3 2019, as Nintendo decided to expand what was originally planned as a DLC expansion into a full new game. That original trailer focussed on underground elements, but with the new trailer above, Aonuma-san has revealed that the adventure has been expanded to include the skies above Hyrule.
By spring 2023, it will have been six years since the release of Breath of the Wild alongside the launch of the Nintendo Switch. Good things come to those who wait, I suppose, but that’s quite a lot of waiting!
