The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been delayed to Spring 2023. We got a tiny piece of new footage in return.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma announced and apologised for the delay in a video (below), saying "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." No specific reason was given for the delay.
Eiji Aonuma described a little about the game amid the announcement, saying: "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 wwider variety of features you can enjoy, including new encounters and new gameplay elements."
Most of that was backed by footage we'd seen before, but one extra bit of footage has been added, showing a closer look at the new tattooed Link(?) we've previously glimpsed, and what seems to be a corrupted or broken version of the Master Sword.
The sequel to Breath of the Wild (which still doesn't have an official name) was first announced in 2019, and was made because the team for the original game had too many ideas for DLC. We got the original 2022 release window last year, alongside the first gameplay. Nintendo patents have since given us more of a sense of the new mechanics it may introduce.
Given that it's a sequel to what we've previously rated as the best game of all time, it's no surprise that Nintendo may want to hold it back and get it exactly right. After all, the original game was delayed too, and Aonuma explained in 2017:
"Every time we make a Zelda, we want to make something new. It’s hard to gauge how long that’s going to take. And it’s also hard to gauge at what point whatever we consider to be new is done. A lot of times what we try to tackle takes a lot longer than anticipated. So that’s why many times the development struggle there is a delay."
I'd imagine we'd hear a similar explanation in this case.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.