The sequel to Zelda Breath of the Wild has officially been delayed to 2023 but not without a small tease
from Eiji Aonuma.
Nintendo made the announcement this morning with the video featuring long-time, series, designer,
manager, and producer Eiji Aonuma, who said we previously announced that we were aiming for a 2022, release date. However, we have decided to extend our development time a bit and change the release to Spring 2023, for those looking for a release this year. We apologize.
Aonuma went on to reiterate the basic setting for the game, which will take place on the ground, as well as in the skies above, and then he teased out that there will be even more new features, counters, and gameplay in the finished release.
As he explains, we get a quick glimpse at what seems to be a broken or corrupted Master Sword, and
then he moves on to conclude by saying that 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.
It’s unfortunate news, but not entirely unexpected. Even with the financial report in February suggesting Nintendo was on track for the Zelda Breath Of The Wild to release this year. The game does not even have an official title yet, other than a few bits and morsels of gameplay.
Nintendo really hasn’t shared much but the short clip of the corrupted Master Sword has sparked lots of speculation in the community that the corruption somehow spread from Links arm to Master Sword,
nullifying its ability to fight Ganon with that being the case Link will have to travel the lands above and
search the skies to find shrines or a purifying power that can reforge Master Sword.
A fun theory considering the setting of Skyward Sword which was recently ported to switch last year, and that game also explains the origins of a master sword, which could clearly be another tie-in known Zelda Historian YouTuber Zeltik has even suggested in the recent video that we might see the return of Fi, who is a spirit that lives within Master Sword and is also referenced in the first Breath Of The Wild.
There are usually two to four years between Zelda games, depending on if it’s a mainline series but it’s
going to be six years in 2023 when the sequel to Breath Of The Wild comes out as the first game came
out in 2017.
The Nintendo Switch is still a top-selling console and the company has already released Pokemon
Legends Arceus as well as Kirby and the Forgotten land, a DLC pack for Mario Kart 8. This continues to
go according to plan for Nintendo. The Gen Nine Pokemon games are slated to come out later this year
with a new Mario Strikers game and the next Mario + Rabbids game as well.