Nintendo Lists Zelda U Release Date as TBD in Financial Report
This is the time of year when everybody is releasing their financial reports for the first quarter of 2015, and in them, Nintendo gave some cause for worry. Nintendo, while reporting release dates for various titles, have curiously left Zelda U's release date as TBD. This is noteworthy due to the fact that every other game except Project Giant Robot receives a release window of some kind (sans one European 3DS release), whether it be a specific season, or just 2016. As everybody was expecting a 2016 release date to be fairly set in stone, it is becoming increasingly difficult to figure out what exactly Nintendo is planning for their Zelda title for the Wii U. Or rather, maybe it is becoming increasingly clear.
There has been speculation since the NX really set the rumor mill ablaze that perhaps Zelda U wasn't going to be so much Zelda U as Zelda U + NX. With the increasing likelihood that, whether it be the NX or something else, Nintendo's home console successor is on the horizon for a 2016 announcement and maybe even late 2016 release date, many sources are speculating more and more that Zelda U may pull a Twilight Princess scenario. The lack of certainty in Zelda's release date could be a lack of certainty in the console successor release date, whether it will be 2016 or 2017 at this point. This is a very real possibility to entertain, and even if it doesn't necessarily follow any trends, it should be considered.
I'm hoping we will all be proven wrong, and that Zelda U will be the exclusive title Wii U owners have been waiting for, but Nintendo's suspicious behavior is causing people to draw some different conclusions. Whether the struggling Wii U will receive this title exclusively has already been a subject of debate on this site ever since Zelda U was delayed to 2016 back in late March.
All of that said, I'd like to ask you all: what do you think? Has your opinion changed? Do you think Zelda U is still guaranteed to be a Wii U exclusive, or is the magic eight ball starting to predict a more uncertain future?
I'll make it clear now that Nintendo reporting the release date this way does not set in stone any kind of facts about the way the game will be releasing, so please be sure to treat your speculation and others appropriately.
Nintendo Financial Report - See Page 5