Report: 'Zelda: Breath of the Wild' delayed, won't make Nintendo Switch launch

By Gabe Gurwin November 15, 2016

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - New Temple of Time Footage

Nintendo’s Switch console is scheduled to release next March, but it appears that the system’s biggest launch title may no longer be able to release simultaneously.

Nintendo insider Emily Rogers, who had previously revealed that the Nintendo Switch was set to be fully unveiled in March and would feature 4GB of RAM (the jury is still out on the latter detail), reported that the localization for Breath of the Wild is well behind schedule.

Several sources have told Rogers that the localization for the game could take until December to complete, and would then require roughly four to six months of testing before the game would be ready to ship.

This would seem to put Breath of the Wild‘s actual launch date as somewhere between April and June 2017. The extra time, however, could make for a more polished final product — Rogers has also been told that the Switch version of the game is running “more smoothly” than the Wii U version we’ve seen at E3.

Rogers stressed that, even with her multiple sources, fans should take this information with “a grain of salt.” Eurogamer, though, was able to corroborate the report a short time after the original was posted.

“Eurogamer had separately been told of the same schedule, as Nintendo is committed to launching the game in as close to perfect a state as possible after so long in development,” said Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips.

Phillips added that the 3D Mario game we saw a glimpse of during the Switch announcement video will likely fill the void left by Breath of the Wild.

It’s not particularly unusual for a Zelda title to miss a Nintendo system’s launch. Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Link to the Past, and the original Legend of Zelda all released well after their respective systems were made available. The sole exception is Twilight Princess, but that game was delayed from an original sole GameCube release in order to move it to the Wii, as well.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be available for both Nintendo Switch and Wii U.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is getting a Nintendo Switch remake in February

Mario jumping towards Donkey Kong in Mario vs Donkey Kong for the Switch.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong was announced during today's Nintendo Direct. Launching on February 16, this new title is the first entry in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series to hit the Nintendo Switch and the latest in the series since its last entry in 2016.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong - Nintendo Direct 9.14.2023

Gaming

Nintendo’s next console may feature DLSS and ray-tracing support

Mario high-fives Nintendo Live guests.

New reports affirm the rumors that Nintendo has started to show its next-generation console -- referred to colloquially by fans as Nintendo Switch 2 -- behind closed doors at a recent video game industry expo. It reportedly featured tech demos highlighting features like Nvidia DLSS support and ray tracing.
Gamescom 2023 was held in Cologne, Germany, between August 23 and August 27. Nintendo attended the European game industry event, and shortly thereafter, rumors emerged that Nintendo had shown its next console behind closed doors. Now, new reports from Eurogamer and VGC are corroborating these claims.
Specifically, both sources say that Nintendo showed tech demos for its next game console in private during meetings with some other game developers at Gamescom. Both sources confirmed that an upgraded version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was shown off on this "Switch 2" hardware.
VGC also had a source who claimed that the impressive The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo -- used to promote Epic Games' new engine and the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X back in 2021 -- was also shown to developers and seemed to confirm that the new Nintendo system will support Nvidia's upscaling DLSS tech as well as ray-tracing. Keep in mind that tech demos for systems often don't make the transition to full-game releases.

We don't know much else about what was shown, although VGC claims that this system will be usable in a portable mode like the Nintendo Switch is. Currently, the launch window for Nintendo's next new piece of hardware is expected to be sometime in fall 2024, although Eurogamer's source stated that "Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible."
Nintendo has not commented on these rumors, and is unlikely to ahead of an official console reveal. Still, the idea that the next Nintendo console is nearly upon us should be exciting for fans of one of the video game industry's most storied companies.

Gaming

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom DLC is not happening, says Nintendo

Link and other characters from Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one of the year's most successful games, but a developer from Nintendo has confirmed that it doesn't have plans to make any DLC for it. Speaking to the Japanese publication Famitsu, series producer Eiji Aonuma confirmed this was the case because the development team had already explored all of the ideas they wanted to in the base game and is now looking to the future.

"At this time, we are not planning to release additional content. We feel like we have already fully explored and exhausted the gameplay possibilities in this world," Aonuma said in comments translated by Video Games Chronicle. "Initially, the reason we decided to develop a sequel was because we believed there was still value in experiencing new gameplay within that particular Hyrule. If, in the future, we find a compelling reason, we may revisit that world once again. Whether it’s another sequel or an entirely new title, I believe the next game will offer a completely new experience."
While Aonuma's explanation is sound, it's still a pretty surprising move by Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild received two expansions after it came out in 2017. Some fans expected that Tears of the Kingdom would follow in that game's footsteps, especially as it would make sense for Nintendo to find more ways to capitalize on a game that has already sold 18.51 million copies. Still, it's probably best for Nintendo to move on from Tears of the Kingdom and create something new rather than making underwhelming DLC for the sake of having post-launch content.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Nintendo Switch.