March 29, 2022

If you thought the PlayStation Plus news from Sony was going to be the only big talking point today, think again. Nintendo has just officially announced that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has been delayed to Spring 2023.

A new video from Nintendo has been posted various social channels and features Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma confirming the unfortunate news, alongside a few further teasers on what fans can expect from the sequel. During the video, Aonuma also mentions the game will have a “wider variety of features”, “new encounters” and “new gameplay elements”.

Nintendo was previously aiming to launch the game in 2022, but fans have heard very little on the game for a number of months. As such it’s not entirely surprising to see arguably the company’s next biggest title given that extra bit of time to ensure it delivers just as the original BOTW game did.

Read on for the full comments from Eiji Aonuma.

“I have an update to share on the launch timing of the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” said Aonuma.

“We previously announced that we were aiming for a 2022 release for this game. 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 apologise.

“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 new gameplay elements,” he continued.

“In order to make the game’s experience something special, the entire development team is continuing to work diligently on this game, so please wait a while longer.”

More to follow. This is a breaking story and we’ll add more details as they’re made available.