Nintendo’s E3 Direct will soon arrive with June fast approaching, though there are speculations as to the likelihood of BotW 2 taking center stage. Considering the current scheduling for Nintendo’s upcoming titles, however, it is more likely than not that Breath of the Wild 2 will stay under wraps for the upcoming Direct, and will instead feature in a Nintendo presentation later down the line.
And that is not to suggest that the titles on such a schedule are anything to scoff at either. The February Nintendo Direct started the year with momentum, announcing Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a sequel moved to an earlier release date from September to July. Following the success that is Legends: Arceus is the next mainline title for Pokemon in the form of Scarlet and Violet, coming sometime later this year, and the frantic third-person shooter Splatoon 3, which is set to release in the now vacant time slot of September.
This is arguably different from the previously anticipated gaming landscape that fans would expect Nintendo to find itself in during the year 2022. When the Breath of the Wild Sequel was first announced at E3 2019, people had expectations for the title to be the center focus of Nintendo’s gaming releases during the year. With official announcements building up to the eventual release.
But instead, the current landscape is anything but the very opposite. There are confirmed series titles to the vast majority of Nintendo’s well-known IPs, with news for Breath of the Wild 2 being the unfortunate delay from late 2022 to the early months of 2023. In that sense, Nintendo isn’t in the previous position that they were in where pushing for the Zelda Sequel is the only thing that they could do from a marketing standpoint. There are a lot of titles to be promoted from their catalog, ones with earlier release dates that could be said to have a sizeable audience.
As such, Botw 2 could find itself missing from the stage of Nintendo’s E3 Direct for 2022. With promotional resources relegated to other titles that could feasibly serve as the centerpiece of the software presentation. Though it is possible to debate what that could turn out to be, with some suggesting the surprise twist of a mainline title for the Mario series of games.
People that are owners of Nintendo Switch consoles should find themselves pleasantly engaged with the numerous first-party titles that are arriving in the upcoming months, but the same can’t necessarily be said for dedicated fans of Legends of Zelda, who’ll have to exercise patience until Nintendo is ready to release more information about the title, starting from the name itself.
The Breath of the Wild Sequel is set to release in Spring 2023, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
