Nintendo has officially announced that a new "The Legend of Zelda" game is slated for release on the Wii U and the upcoming NX. However, the publisher has yet to come out with a specific release date. Speculations suggest that "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" will come out in early 2017.
Reportedly, Nintendo is already in the thick of things in the next "The Legend of Zelda" game development, and is currently polishing "Breath of the Wild." However, it seems that the targeted early 2017 release date is much later than what the studio originally planned for the new title.
In a recent interview with Kotaku, Nintendo's chief creative game designer Shigeru Miyamoto admits that most probably, the release date for "Breath of the Wild" is already a later period than they anticipated.
"First of all, it would be great if I didn't have to put a release date out at all, but I have to," Miyamoto said.
The industry follower did notice that out of all Nintendo IPs, almost every major title under the "The Legend of Zelda" franchise tends to release later than anticipated, and have even rolled out as late as a year than the expected release date.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma agrees, although he says that the long time in development for every "Zelda" game is noticeable by how polished each title is.
"But 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," the producer said.
Meanwhile, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" has yet to receive a specific release date. According to rumors, since Nintendo already has a full-blown demo version shown at this year's E3, it is highly possible that the game will be released way before the next annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, placing the roll out date to be in the earlier half of 2017.
