Giving more time to the world (also that whole pandemic thing).
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/60052/sequel-to-breath-of-the-wild-delayed-to-spring-2023
The sequel to Breath of the Wild has been officially delayed out of 2022.
In a video posted on their various social media, Zelda director Eiji Aonuma confirmed the new target release of Spring 2023. Aonuma cited a need for additional development time and wanting to add new gameplay elements to the world.
Four consecutive console Zeldas have now been delayed publicly: Twilight Princess from 2005 to 2006, Skyward Sword from 2010 to 2011, Breath of the Wild from a targeted 2015 to 2017, and now the sequel.
This is why Nintendo should stop announcing games so early, especially Zelda. It rarely meets these self-imposed deadlines. That said, maybe don’t do that anymore? I get there’s probably pressure from shareholders. Then again, Switch has been cleaning up since launch. Did Nintendo really need to announce a new Zelda game that early?
So is the Switch successor going to get announced and this is going to show up as a simultaneous release for both the old and new system? That's practically become a Zelda trademark.
There is also the Golden week holiday in Japan. April 29-May 5th.
March 3 was when Switch Launched. (Friday)
March 4 was when Playstation 2 Launched (Saturday)
February 26 was when 3ds Launched. (Saturday)
If Nintendo follows the same strategy they did in 2016-2017 they can just repeat it. Announce it in October 20, 2022 and release it on March 3, 2023. Which, would be the 6th year anniversary of Switch.
NES(Famicom) and SNES - 7 years, 4 months, 6 days
SNES and N64 - 5 years, 7 months, 2 days
N64 and GCN - 5 years, 2 months, 22 days
GCN and Wii - 5 years, 2 months, 5 days
Wii and Wii U - 5 years, 11 months, 30 days
Wii U and Switch - 4 years, 3 months, 13 days
Switch release through today - 4 years, 7 months, 11 days
November 2022 is 5 years 8 months.