The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma has delivered some heartbreaking release date news: The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (or “Breath of the Wild 2“) has been delayed to spring 2023. Nintendo had previously announced that BOTW 2 would launch this year on Nintendo Switch, but this delay will allow the game to receive the extra development time it needs.
“(W)e have decided to extend our development time a bit and change the release to spring 2023,” said Aonuma in a video. “For those of you who have been looking forward to a release this year, we apologize.” He later added, “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.”
Breath of the Wild 2 has been delayed despite past assurances that the game was actually on track for a 2022 release date. Nonetheless, a delay is only good news. The original Breath of the Wild was delayed more than once, and the final product was an unmitigated masterpiece that has already influenced several other games. There is plenty of reason to be enthusiastic about Breath of the Wild 2 as well. Gameplay is headed back to the sky this time, and there will be plenty of new powers to use and enemies to face.
However, even though The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has been delayed to a release date in spring 2023, there will be many other Nintendo games to play this year, like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and Bayonetta 3, among others.
