Nintendo shares drop 6% following Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 delay
Nintendo shares fell six percent in Tokyo trading on Wednesday on the back of the news that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has been delayed.
The platform holder announced on Tuesday that the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch sequel, which was previously scheduled to arrive in 2022, will now be released in spring 2023.
Prior to Wednesday’s slump, Nintendo shares had gained 25% year-to-date, Reuters reports.
Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games industry consultancy Kantan Games, said the strength of Nintendo’s upcoming release schedule meant this was as good a year as any to delay the game.
Nintendo Switch Sports will release in April, ahead of Splatoon 3 this summer, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in September, and Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet in late 2022.
“If there’s a year Nintendo can afford to push Zelda out of, it’s this year,” Toto said. “The fiscal year hasn’t even started yet and they have spread out all of these potential blockbuster titles.”
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild released as a Switch launch title in March 2017 and is the console’s fourth best-selling game to date with 25.8 million copies sold as of December 2021.
Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma delivered news of Breath of the Wild 2’s delay in a video update on Tuesday.
“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,” he said.
“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.
“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
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