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WiiU

The Legend of Zelda Wii U No Longer Prioritized For a 2015 Release

by Bryan Rose - March 27, 2015, 3:23 pm EDT
Total comments: 29 Source: Facebook, Miiverse

The producer mentions the original 2015 release date may not happen.

While not directly saying it was delayed, The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma announced today that the release date for the next title in the series will more than likely not meet its 2015 release date.

In the video posted to Facebook, Aonuma talks about how in the last three months, they have discovered "several new possibilities" for the game and how they are "no longer making a 2015 release our number one priority". You can see the full video in the source link. Furthermore, in a related post to Miiverse, Aonuma clarified that the game will not be shown at this year's E3 presentation.

Talkback

kokumakerMarch 27, 2015

First reaction: Booooo.
Second reaction: As usual, this means only that we'll have an even better game in the end, so I can live with it.

broodwarsMarch 27, 2015

Well, it's unfortunate but not the least bit unexpected. I've been predicting this all year. I'm not sure Aonuma's ever released a Zelda game on time (certainly not a console one, anyway), so the streak continues. The big question now is whether Nintendo will waste Zelda on a Wii U release in 2016, when the platform will be somehow even less relevant than it already is. I could see them Twilight Princess-ing it.

I suspect as a result, Mario Maker will be expanded out into a real game to be Nintendo's big Fall title, alongside Xenoblade & possibly episode 1 of Star Fox Wii U.  Man, though...this year's E3's looking pretty barren for Nintendo, barring an unexpected new Wii U announcement like a new Metroid game or something.

Ian SaneMarch 27, 2015

I'm reading between the lines here and getting "moved to the NX" as the message.

Evan_BMarch 27, 2015

I am so disappointed I don't know what to say. On one hand, the game won't be terrible. On the other... What is Nintendo hoping to sell the Wii U with this year? If it's Mario Maker, they're morons. I want a solid, dedicated experience for the console. Xenoblade Chronicles X will likely scratch that itch, but that won't do the same thing for many others.

If Nintendo isn't showing this game at E3 this year, why even announce it last year? We're they THAT desperate? They had a perfectly fine lineup without it. But of course, this will be the THIRD YEAR in a row we see XCX and likely Yoshi's Wooly World, with a majority of the games they showed last year making returns. This is disappointing and truthfully, not what I expect from the show or Nintendo at all. Didn't they make a statement that they would release their games closer to their reveal?

And by the way, if we don't hear something about SMTxFE this year I give up on that game.

Fuck it. I'm just going to come out and say it. This sucks.

Mop it upMarch 27, 2015

Not surprising it likely won't make 2015, but it is a bit surprising it won't be at E3. Nintendo need to show all they have for Wii U no matter how long it'll take to release.

Ian SaneMarch 27, 2015

Perhaps it is not being shown at E3 because doing so would reveal some detail about their next console.  It could be simply that it isn't a Wii U game anymore so they're not going to show it as one and don't want to formally reveal their new console yet or their new console, like the Wii and Wii U, has some sort of controller gimmick that would be revealed by showing footage of any games for it.  If it was still a Wii U game they could surely show some video or something at least.  There must be something they need to keep hidden for now.

Or it is still a Wii U game and they're just being idiots which with Nintendo is always a plausible explanation.

ShyGuyMarch 27, 2015
Ian SaneMarch 27, 2015

They're delaying the game to add a sidekick character that explicitly tells you how to solve every puzzle the second you enter a room.

SorenMarch 27, 2015

Is it really news if we already saw it coming a mile away?


Cue E3 Animal Crossing U for Holiday Release.

TeaHeeMarch 27, 2015


How sick would this make you?

The Zelda Team was plundered for mobile game development. They aren't going to make themselves.

rlse9March 27, 2015

Please understand...

Triforce HermitMarch 27, 2015

Disappointing but not surprising

ejamerMarch 27, 2015

I can take this news. I still have two unplayed Zelda games in my backlog, so it doesn't even bug me.


Praying that Xenoblade doesn't get delayed though. That is why I bought a Wii U console, and is literally the only upcoming game I'm actively excited about.

nickmitchMarch 27, 2015

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m74/nickmitch889/mshckd_zps9c783fa2.gif

MagicCow64March 27, 2015

I'll admit that I thought this had even chances at coming out this year. That surprise showing at that award show seemed to indicate an aggressive posture, and from the map and things it looked like they had the design fairly nailed down.

I think Iansane's on to something here. It seems improbable that they totally rethought the game on a neutral design level this far in, to the point where it's so disassembled they can't cut together a spiffy trailer for E3. It's either being pushed out promotionally as a cross-gen game, and/or there's something novel enough about the NX that it would be as central to the game as Motion+ was to Skyward Sword.

I would join the joke about looking forward to Animal Crossing: Newer Leaf this holiday season, but I also doubt they will burn another franchise on the WiiU. I would not be shocked if Splatoon, Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World, Xenoblade X was the retail slate for the rest of the year, with perhaps Star Fox or Devil's Third stretching it out (or that long-rumored HD remake). If there's a big game in the wings I would think it would be for the 3DS, which has a comparatively dead first party line-up.

marvel_moviefan_2012March 28, 2015

I go could two ways with this news, one is they are expecting strong growth in Wii U and are hoping pushing Zelda back to next year will give them something to hold gamers over while they work on other stuff, or two they have officially given up on Wii U and are moving this to NX. I would put my money on option two at this point. Which would make Wii U the first home console to not have a proper Zelda released for it, much like Saturn was Sega's first console to not get a proper Sonic game. Wii U= Saturn then as we all expected?

SorenMarch 28, 2015

Quote from: marvel_moviefan_2012

Wii U= Saturn then as we all expected?

Maybe what you expected.


Worst case scenario we have a Twilight Princess scenario. But that's not going to happen. The NX won't come out 2017 at the earliest, and this game is releasing holiday season 2016.

marvel_moviefan_2012March 28, 2015

We don't know that, they could very well be pushing to get NX released next year. If it is a new console it makes sense. If it is a hybrid it makes sense. What doesn't make sense is delaying Zelda to next year unless they really are digging their heels in with Wii U. If that is the direction they are going then they had better get some more games announced then what we know about so far.

Nile Boogie ReturnsMarch 28, 2015

You guys are taking this really well. Me on the other hand....




WHAT TYPE FUCKERY IS THIS!!?!!?!?!?!!??

Luigi DudeMarch 28, 2015

This is actually good news for Xenoblade since it gives it a better chance of selling in the West now.  Having 2 massive open world games coming out around the same time was always going to make one take attention away from the other, which we all know Zelda would get all the hype.  Now Xenoblade will be the only game of its kind coming out on the Wii U this Fall, which will help give it more attention from people who before would have ignored it in favor of Zelda because "OMG IT"S ZELDA".

AdrockMarch 28, 2015

I had my doubts Zelda Wii U would even remain a Wii U title. A 2015 release seemed too good to be true so Nintendo insisting it was on track a few months ago was actually a bigger surprise than this delay. As much as I want this game on my life, I will always advocate a delay if it means a better end product.

marvel_moviefan_2012March 28, 2015

Quote from: Luigi

This is actually good news for Xenoblade since it gives it a better chance of selling in the West now.  Having 2 massive open world games coming out around the same time was always going to make one take attention away from the other, which we all know Zelda would get all the hype.  Now Xenoblade will be the only game of its kind coming out on the Wii U this Fall, which will help give it more attention from people who before would have ignored it in favor of Zelda because "OMG IT"S ZELDA".

Yeah, only on a Nintendo console is that a problem, having competition is a good thing, having variety and choices is a good thing, but not if you are talking Nintendo they can't compete so they make their games and consoles fit into their little world and spread out their releases because Nintendo fans for some reason can't buy more than one game at a time? Last time I checked the big boys get one of these types of games every couple of months, they seem to be doing pretty well. Also Zelda is going to sell to an entirely different segment of the market than Xenoblade X, there is some overlap but X is an RPG Zelda is not they are different demographics. RPG gamers are starved for something to play on Wii U, Zelda gamers have plenty to hold them over, especially once you dive into VC.

broodwarsMarch 28, 2015

Quote from: marvel_moviefan_2012

Yeah, only on a Nintendo console is that a problem, having competition is a good thing, having variety and choices is a good thing, but not if you are talking Nintendo they can't compete so they make their games and consoles fit into their little world and spread out their releases because Nintendo fans for some reason can't buy more than one game at a time? Last time I checked the big boys get one of these types of games every couple of months, they seem to be doing pretty well. Also Zelda is going to sell to an entirely different segment of the market than Xenoblade X, there is some overlap but X is an RPG Zelda is not they are different demographics. RPG gamers are starved for something to play on Wii U, Zelda gamers have plenty to hold them over, especially once you dive into VC.

As a company, the last thing you want competing with you is yourself. Even if Zelda had been released on time, it was a bad idea to have 2 games from similar genres releasing in neighboring windows. People would have waited on Xenoblade since Zelda is the marquee franchise. You see this kind of thing all the time on the other consoles, where all FPS games move to get out of the way of Call of Duty, because Call of Duty is such a high-profile FPS game that it sucks all the money out of the marketplace for FPS games for a while.  That's why if you see major games releasing at the same time or a week apart, they're almost always from different genres (unless you're Sony and you're releasing an all-ages platformer, in which case it's being sent out to die against 2-3 similar games).

Ian SaneMarch 30, 2015

Regarding the Xenoblade:Zelda competition... uh, this is the Wii U.  So you buy one but not the other and then once you're done with the first there is nothing else available at all so you buy the second.  The competition is if the user owns another console to take away their attention.  If not they'll likely to catch up during an inevitable drought.  My Wii U owning friend must have every first party Wii U release because if he didn't he'd have nothing to play.

Luigi DudeMarch 30, 2015

Quote from: Ian

Regarding the Xenoblade:Zelda competition... uh, this is the Wii U.  So you buy one but not the other and then once you're done with the first there is nothing else available at all so you buy the second.  The competition is if the user owns another console to take away their attention.  If not they'll likely to catch up during an inevitable drought.  My Wii U owning friend must have every first party Wii U release because if he didn't he'd have nothing to play.

The thing is these are both going to be 100+ hour games.  The average person will easily spend months playing them and then when they're done, they'll probably want to play something else because they're burned out from a giant open world game.  If both games came out this fall, most Wii U owners would have chosen Zelda and by the time they finished it, there could be another new installment from a long running Nintendo franchise to take their attention from Xenoblade or some people might just feel they've had their open world fix from Zelda alone.

That's the advantage to being a long running franchise and more popular like Zelda compared to Xenoblade.  People are going to play Zelda no matter what because it's Zelda.  Even if they don't get it at launch, they'll eventually buy it sometime down the road because of the brand name alone.  Xenoblade on the other hand doesn't have that luxury and so needs to get as many people buying it right away or else it could easily be forgotten about several months later because it lacks the name recognition.

CaterkillerMatthew Osborne, Contributing WriterMarch 30, 2015

Not angry, not disappointed, no surprised. First thing that came to mind was that this game would get the Twilight Princess treatment. I could see this and the NX launching at the end of 2016. Zelda releases on the NX first and then a few weeks later on the Wii U. Sure Wii U only gets 4 years but this is a really dire time for Nintendo. Only the biggest Nintendo fans seem to have bought the Wii U anyway so those guys like me will probably be there for the NX day one any way. I doubt anyone is going to feel burned especially since the X-Box went 4 years and then it was 360 all the way.


And in all honesty, if that is their plan I don't blame Nintendo at all. Think about how much "new" Zeldas always seem to fall further and further behind in sales and general perception with gamers. There was 10 times more interest in the Majoras Mask remake than Skyward Sword or A Link Between Worlds. I mean man, how do those working on the game feel about that? The hierarchy goes Mario > Pokemon > Donkey Kong > Animal Crossing > Zelda.  This is the world we live in now. Nintendo knows at this point only a fraction of the few million people who got the Wii U will get this anyway. So let em push it on a brand new console as the definitive Zelda we've all dreamed off.


Of course I say this like it's set in stone but not even being shown at E3? Remember SS's demo? One tiny little forest area just toying with weapons, a mini boss and a bigger boss. I bet they can show and demo that right now if they want to. They want this Zelda out of sight and out of mind. So when they do announce that brand new console this will be their flagship game to make people hyped.


I know we normally think of casuals when regarding the Wii but that launch had a million and 1 die hard gamers trying to get the new Zelda yesterday. There is no way Nintendo didn't notice that. They figured they could get the same results with another 2D Mario but I think they are going with last gens strategy.


Then you got the 30 year anniversary of Zelda in 2016 and boom! Super mega hype extreme! To the max! You just watch.

Luigi DudeMarch 30, 2015

Quote from: Caterkiller

And in all honesty, if that is their plan I don't blame Nintendo at all. Think about how much "new" Zeldas always seem to fall further and further behind in sales and general perception with gamers. There was 10 times more interest in the Majoras Mask remake than Skyward Sword or A Link Between Worlds. I mean man, how do those working on the game feel about that?

The fuck is this shit?  Skyward Sword sold 3.7 million, something Majora's Mask 3D won't even get close to.  Even Ocarina of Time 3D hasn't reached Skyward Sword numbers and that's a remake of a more popular game. Hell, Link Between Worlds was at 2.5 million as of March 31st of 2014 which was only a few months after it's holiday 2013 release, which was now a year ago.  For all we know the game could be over 3 million by now which is pretty close to the original lifetime sales of the N64 version of Majora's Mask which only did 3.4 million.

Once again, just because a vocal minority on the internet loves to always bitch about the newest Zelda's, doesn't mean the rest of the world feels the same way.

CaterkillerMatthew Osborne, Contributing WriterMarch 31, 2015

Quote from: Luigi

Quote from: Caterkiller

And in all honesty, if that is their plan I don't blame Nintendo at all. Think about how much "new" Zeldas always seem to fall further and further behind in sales and general perception with gamers. There was 10 times more interest in the Majoras Mask remake than Skyward Sword or A Link Between Worlds. I mean man, how do those working on the game feel about that?

The **** is this ****?  Skyward Sword sold 3.7 million, something Majora's Mask 3D won't even get close to.  Even Ocarina of Time 3D hasn't reached Skyward Sword numbers and that's a remake of a more popular game. Hell, Link Between Worlds was at 2.5 million as of March 31st of 2014 which was only a few months after it's holiday 2013 release, which was now a year ago.  For all we know the game could be over 3 million by now which is pretty close to the original lifetime sales of the N64 version of Majora's Mask which only did 3.4 million.

Once again, just because a vocal minority on the internet loves to always bitch about the newest Zelda's, doesn't mean the rest of the world feels the same way.

Don't curse at me like I personally insulted you. Then again maybe I did. I didn't say anything about sales of any games that have been out for several years now. My point is anecdotal sure but with those opening sales of Mojoras Mask I have to think there is more interest and positive mind share in it then a brand new game like Link Between Worlds. For a game that was the 2nd black sheep of the franchise it sure has been getting a lot of praise lately and hasn't been nearly as divisive amongst fans as SS. 

SorenMarch 31, 2015

That's just recency bias.

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