Producer of the game series Eiji Aonuma, recently announced that Zelda Wii U will not only miss E3, but has a high chance of missing a 2015 launch.
Now, I think we all expected delays (mainly due to the lack of gameplay footage released from Nintendo) but a 2016 release window is looking very much like a set-up for something else?
Could Nintendo completely scrap a Zelda release for the Wii U, saving their ace card for the next game (Project NX)
Once you add this to Satoru Iwata’s recent ‘Project NX’ announcement, it could equal Nintendo saving Zelda as an NX launch title, completely crossing it off the Wii U release calendar.
Here are two important reasons why Nintendo could do this:
1) Zelda Wii U would sell well and shift consoles, but nowhere near enough to make a difference to Nintendo’s current position in the home console market
2) As well as poor storage support, a pad that frightened the crap out of developers and a hefty price tag, Wii U was plagued with no-shows from its major games at launch. Moving Zelda to Nintendo’s new console as a launch title, could really give their latest hardware the head-start it needs to truly make that difference.
Don’t get us wrong, we’d love to see the new Zelda release for the Wii U, but unfortunately it’s starting to look like too much of a business risk for Nintendo.
