Is the Zelda delay a sign of Nintendo losing faith in the WII U?

Stuart · 31-03-2015, 16:49

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/32118692

Nintendo has indefinitely delayed the release of Legend of Zelda on the Wii U. One analyst has said this was Nintendo's main release on the Wii U this year, and the this delay could be a sign that Nintendo is getting ready to abandon the console.

Others have suggested that this delay is usual for Zelda games and is just a sign that Nintendo is doing a little more polishing.

What do you think?

I don't think it is a good sign for the Wii U. It's quite normal for games to be delayed for last minute upgrades and bug fixes before release (e.g. I've been waiting for months for GTA 5 to come out on the PC), and I doubt the Zelda games are any different.

As evidence, he points out that there are not a lot of big franchise games coming out for the Wii U. Looking at the release schedule at http://www.nintendolife.com/wiiu/games/soon, he's got a point. The only big franchise games I can see listed are Legend of Zelda and Lego Jurassic World. Compare that with the XBONE, PS4 or even PC.

He actually calls the schedule "Barren". Not sure I'd go that far, but they need a few franchises, and preferably exclusive franchises to sell the console to new users. With no new Zelda coming out, I cannot see any exclusive franchise games coming out on the Wii U. Apart from the Lego game, I cannot see any franchise games at all coming out on the Wii U this year. No Fifa. No Tomb Raider. No Batman game. No GTA.

On the flip side, this is one analyst. He may be biased, or may be wrong.

Stephen · 31-03-2015, 16:52

There is a new Starfox game due out this year.

I don't see it a bad sign. It could well be but nintendo delayed Zelda Ocarina of Time on the N64 by a year I think, it was due to be a launch title and look how good that was.

I know ea aren't releasing anything for it and tomb raider is Xbox One only this year.

However I don't see that an issue. For me I have other consoles to get those games for.

I am more than happy with all nintendo's own great titles that keep me using the console.

downquark1 · 31-03-2015, 18:18

This is not surprising, Zelda games take a long time and we don't even have a title for this game.

It's still up in the air what this next console is - it may not be a normal console.

One precedent is twilight princess was released both on the wii and the gamecube since it was delayed until the end of the gamecube cycle.