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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s producer, Eiji Aonuma, has announced that the game’s long-awaited sequel will now see a later release date.
Originally planned for 2022, they are now expecting to have the game ready sometime in Spring 2023.
The game so far does not have a firm release date, and the title is yet to be revealed.
The Announcement
"We previously announced that we were aiming for a 2022 release for this game,” Aonuma says. “However, we have decided to extend our development time a bit and change the release to spring 2023. For those of you who have been looking forward to a release this year, we apologize."
"As previously announced, the adventure in this sequel will take place not just on the ground as in the previous game, but also in the skies above. However, the expanded world goes beyond that, and there will be an even wider variety of features you can enjoy, including new encounters and gameplay elements."
"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.”
Game development is a lot of work. We can only imagine all the talent that is going into making this sequel. Hopefully, the delay means that the team behind the game will be able to make an experience just as magical as the original Breath of the Wild, if not more.
With so many new elements to look forward to, it only makes sense that the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was already such a broad game, would take a little longer to make. While it may be disappointing that we won’t get to play the game as soon, we can be excited for a more polished product made by happier developers.
The announcement video (linked at the end of this blog) also shows a snippet of new footage from the game. In this footage, we see Link unsheathe what seems to be the Master Sword – and the reveal is quite surprising.
More About the Breath of the Wild Sequel
Breath of the Wild 2 was first announced in 2019, two years after the release of the original game. If you’re new to Breath of the Wild, you can check out our review of the game here.
So far, Nintendo has been pretty quiet about the contents of the sequel. They even say that revealing the title would give too much away. Currently, there is no indication of when we’ll get our next look at the game. But, now that the sequel has been pushed back, we’ll hopefully see a few more teasers to keep us up to date with the game’s progress.
So far, we know that the game takes place both on land, in the sky, and also “beyond.” So there’s plenty of room for speculation.
What Now?
Thankfully, Nintendo has had a very impressive release roster this year. So, even though Breath of the Wild 2 won’t be joining them, we still have fantastic new games like Splatoon 3, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and Mario Strikers: Battle League to enjoy.
If you’re eager for more Breath of the Wild content, remember to read our review blog. We also have lots of Legend of Zelda products available on our website, from video games to merch like puzzles and artbooks. You can also find the delay announcement video on Nintendo's official YouTube channel, here.