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

 

[osaka35]

There's is the possibility they try and keep the Wii U and the NX going at the same time, especially if Wii U games aren't compatible with the NX. There were a lot of NES games released after the SNES was released, and a lot of snes games released after the n64 came out. Though I think this was due to their popularity rather than anything else, so this may not be the likeliest of scenarios.

As far as zelda goes, who knows. I don't care how long its delayed as long as it's fun in the end. Maybe they're working to see if they can port it to the NX, still working on if it's feasible, or maybe they're just making this such a huge frikin' zelda game, they're needing more time to work out the kinks.

...they were gonna drop the Wii U after a mere 4 -5 years ...

5-6 years is a normal console cycle for nintendo, so if it released in fall of 2017, it would be normal. A release in fall of 2016 is a year early, so a bit earlier than usual, but not anywhere near Sega's level of console release of every couple of years for many generations.

 

[stomp_442]

The NX will sure as hell not be backwards compatible to the Wii U, else they could have named it Wii U 2.

Nintendo already told us that, the NX will not be a replacement for the Wii U, which means no backwards compatibility.

 

[CathyRina]

I think the NX replacing the Wii U is the most logical step for Nintendo right now. Their Wii audience moved towards smartphones and there is no point in trying to win them back.
The Wii U tried to appeal to core and casual gamers and appealed to no one, selling worse than the Vita, which is humiliating because Sony doesn't even try to sell it anymore.
Nintendo needs to start competing with Sony and Microsoft. If they don't then I don't see a point in the NX.
Catching up on Hardware would make 3rd party devs more likely to port stuff over to the NX.
Catching up in the OS would make gamers communicate and socialize with eaech other without some stupid Miiverse network.
And making NX Wii U B/C and allowing to trade a Wii U for a NX at a lower price would leave Wii U owners less burned.
But I'm not sure if Nintendo can pull it off after all it's Nintendo.
If NX turns out to be a gaming dedicated smartphone then apparently Nintendo loves to waste money.
If NX turns out to be a OS then it would certainly help a little but wouldn't fix the problem the Wii U is currently having.

There's also the possibility they try and keep the Wii U and the NX going at the same time, especially if Wii U games aren't compatible with the NX.

Splitting your audience into two is a incredibly stupid idea.

 

[kumikochan]

5-6 years is a normal console cycle for nintendo, so if it released in fall of 2017, it would be normal. A release in fall of 2016 is a year early, so a bit earlier than usual, but not anywhere near Sega's level of console release of every couple of years for many generations.

There's also the possibility they try and keep the Wii U and the NX going at the same time, especially if Wii U games aren't compatible with the NX. There were a lot of NES games released after the SNES was released, and a lot of snes games released after the n64 came out. Though I think this was due to their popularity rather than anything else, so this may not be the likeliest of scenarios.

I'm not gonna even reply normally to that since now it looks like that's the only thing i said pulling my whole comment out of proportion

 

[osaka35]

Splitting your audience into two is a incredibly stupid idea.

Agreed. I really don't hope they go down that path.

I'm not gonna even reply normally to that since now it looks like that's the only thing i said pulling my whole comment out of proportion

Nintendo is fucking up again and again and again and again. Last year i told everybody they were gonna delay it and push it on 2 the NX and i got a lot of hate everywhere on my comment from angry fanboys. I even told everybody the NX is probably gonna come out somewhere 2016 probably around November and they were gonna drop the Wii U after a mere 4 -5 years and doing a SEGA and i got a lot of hate on that comment also but HAHA see who's right now Everybody saying Nintendo cares about gamers, don't make me laugh ! Nintendo only cares about their core Japanese market and Always did hence why so much games only are coming out in Japan and are always directing market strategies towards the Japanese audience instead of the West. The NX makes that perfectly clear since most Japanese turned away from consoles and went over to Mobile gaming, more and more proof is already there the NX is gonna based towards mobile gaming to get that Japanese audience back " basicly saying **** the West ! "

5-6 years is a normal console cycle for nintendo, so if it released in fall of 2017, it would be normal. A release in fall of 2016 is a year early, so a bit earlier than usual, but not anywhere near Sega's level of console release of every couple of years for many generations.

the "..." before and after your quote means that you said more than what I had. That it was edited from an original, shortened for brevity or clarity. If you ever see that in a magazine or newspaper, the "...", that means part of what someone said was edited for various reasons. I quoted the part I was replying to and made sure there wasn't context I left out. It was not meant maliciously or with ill-intent, but just for the sake of clarity and to not junk up the forum with huge walls of text.

Does that make you feel better?

 

[kumikochan]

Does that make you feel better?

It def does anyway the wii u is out now for a mere 3 years almost 4 years so in my eyes they're def pulling a sega if you count that the sega saturn didn't have that many releases and most of them weren't even released in the west and was discontinued after 4-5 years basicly saying **** you !!! buy our new system instead wich is almost the same as Nintendo is doing right now. Also Nintendo is always putting market strategies towards Japan instead of the West anyone who can't see that clearly is a dillusional Nintendo Fanboy since they're clearly trying to win back their Japanese audience who went over to Mobile gaming wich is a bing thing right now in Japan instead of listening to the West because they simply don't care about the core gamer in the West they never did and they probably never will and that's why Nintendo is doing so bad right now and probably will be their downfall in the near future. If the Japanese gamers cry out for a remake or a new entry in a series they love Nintendo will move heaven and earth to do so but whenever the West screams towards something Nintendo just loves to ignore and do as they simply please. There have been 100's of examples of that towards the years. Anyway i will not be buying the NX since Nintendo doesn't listen to me as a gamer like Sony and Microsoft does. The wii u will be the last home console i will ever own that is produced by Nintendo since i don't have the need to buy games directed towards winning mobile gamers back wich they already tried with the Wii U and failed miserably the first year it came out. The NX is simply a reattempt to do so and they will fail even harder now. I hope they fail harder then they ever did before that they finally will get their heads out of their *****

 

[osaka35]

It def does anyway the wii u is out now for a mere 3 years almost 4 years so in my eyes they're def pulling a sega if you count that the sega saturn didn't have that many releases and most of them weren't even released in the west and was discontinued after 4-5 years basicly saying **** you !!! buy our new system instead wich is almost the same as Nintendo is doing right now. Also Nintendo is always putting market strategies towards Japan instead of the West anyone who can't see that clearly is a dillusional Nintendo Fanboy since they're clearly trying to win back their Japanese audience who went over to Mobile gaming wich is a bing thing right now in Japan instead of listening to the West because they simply don't care about the core gamer in the West they never did and they probably never will and that's why Nintendo is doing so bad right now and probably will be their downfall in the near future. If the Japanese gamers cry out for a remake or a new entry in a series they love Nintendo will move heaven and earth to do so but whenever the West screams towards something Nintendo just loves to ignore and do as they simply please. There have been 100's of examples of that towards the years. Anyway i will not be buying the NX since Nintendo doesn't listen to me as a gamer like Sony and Microsoft does. The wii u will be the last home console i will ever own that is produced by Nintendo since i don't have the need to buy games directed towards winning mobile gamers back wich they already tried with the Wii U and failed miserably the first year it came out. The NX is simply a reattempt to do so and they will fail even harder now. I hope they fail harder then they ever did before that they finally will get their heads out of their *****

times between the nes, snes, n64, gamecube, wii, and wii u are 6 years, 5 years, 5 years, 5 years, 6 years, respectively. They may try a 4 year cycle, or they might still aim for that year 5. I really don't see a year's difference turning them into Sega.

Times between the master system, genesis, sega cd, 32x, saturn, and dreamcast are 5 years, 2 years, 3 years, 1 year, and 4 years respectively.

I still suspect a 5 year cycle, but they may try and do a 4 year one if the NX allows for easy porting from the other two big console makers. Otherwise, why bother, since the Wii U is making them money now.

 

[kumikochan]

times between the nes, snes, n64, gamecube, wii, and wii u are 6 years, 5 years, 5 years, 5 years, 6 years, respectively. They may try a 4 year cycle, or they might still aim for that year 5. I really don't see a year's difference turning them into Sega.

Times between the master system, genesis, sega cd, 32x, saturn, and dreamcast are 5 years, 2 years, 3 years, 1 year, and 4 years respectively.

I still suspect a 5 year cycle, but they may try and do a 4 year one if the NX allows for easy porting from the other two big console makers. Otherwise, why bother, since the Wii U is making them money now.

Where the hell did you get those numbers since the cd, 32 x are just add-ons and the genesis got discontinued after 10 years instead of the so called 2 years you're saying. Also the saturn got discontinued after 5 years and not 4 years like you are stating. Also the master system stopped production after 7 years so get your facts straight before spouting nonsense wich is only to defend Nintendo their business strategy like a good fanboy does.

 

[mightymuffy]

What nonsense are you saying? I am the one who think they stopped working on the Wii U version? Please read my post again. I am the one who thinks they continued working on the Wii U version and I am the one who thinks an NX version will never happen. You have it all backwards, mate.

Ah, so you think it's still coming to Wii U then - fair enough I've just spent have a sunday afternoon talking gibberish then, no changes there!
Well, you MAY be right, nobody knows for sure... but (and I'm a proud Wii U owner myself, I think it's a great machine!) I seriously doubt it unfortunately....

 

[osaka35]

Where the hell did you get those numbers since the cd, 32 x are just add-ons and the genesis got discontinued after 10 years instead of the so called 2 years you're saying. Also the saturn got discontinued after 5 years and not 4 years like you are stating. Also the master system stopped production after 7 years so get your facts straight before spouting nonsense wich is only to defend Nintendo their business strategy like a good fanboy does.

I didn't say when anything got discontinued. Why are you assuming that? I can list those dates too, if you'd like to know that information.

I'm saying the time between releases was that short. They were add-ons, but there were games you could only play on those add-ons, and the intent was to make a lot of games for them. You could easily see it as a new console-ish that allowed you to keep playing your beloved genesis. Sega was banking that the popularity of the genesis would allow them to keep making games for these half-step generations and genesis at the same time.

It was a bad move on their part and part of the reason they spiraled downwards and bungled the saturn release. The close release times were perceived as "we don't know what we're doing" and haphazard attempts at new consoles, and thus important to mention. There were a lot of other problems with Sega that lead to them exiting the console making business, but for this conversation, those dates are important. Nintendo is not pulling a Sega. They're making their own mistakes.

 

[kumikochan]

I didn't say when anything got discontinued. Why are you assuming that? I can list those dates too, if you'd like to know that information.

I'm saying the time between releases was that short. They were add-ons, but there were games you could only play on those add-ons, and the intent was to make a lot of games for them. You could easily see it as a new console-ish that allowed you to keep playing your beloved genesis. Sega was banking that the popularity of the genesis would allow them to keep making games for these half-step generations and genesis at the same time.

It was a bad move on their part and part of the reason they spiraled downwards and bungled the saturn release. The close release times were perceived as "we don't know what we're doing" and haphazard attempts at a new consoles, and thus important to mention. There were a lot of other problems with Sega that lead to them exiting the console making business, but for this conversation, those dates are important. Nintendo is not pulling a Sega. They're making their own mistakes.

You do know that Nintendo is also going downwards since the N64 and with every releasing console they're moving faster and faster but still not as fast as SEGA did or Atari but still thanks to the same business mistakes but only in slower pace thanks to the money they still have but money doesn't last forever and stock holders happiness don't either.

 

[osaka35]

You do know that Nintendo is also going downwards since the N64 and with every releasing console they're moving faster and faster but still not as fast as SEGA did or Atari but still thanks to the same business mistakes but only in slower pace thanks to the money they still have but money doesn't last forever and stock holders happiness don't either.

What makes you think they're moving faster and faster?

 

[kumikochan]

What makes you think they're moving faster and faster?

first off they lost their market place and came in second place. Now they're in 3th place and moving less units with every console release instead with the Wii but they lost something much more dear and that was their core audience. They also lost support of 3th party devs. The only things that's making money right now for them is their first party exclusives wich you don't need 2 hands to count for on the Wii U and handhelds wich people are getting bored off, if you played one new super mario bros you played them all and their dumb Amiibo crap wich i'm not a fan off. They're also losing brand awereness wich is crucial in making money since less and less people are starting to support Nintendo and even buy stuff from them. So what makes me think they're moving downwards in a spiral ?

 

[weatMod]

lets just face it the wii u is the biggest console fail in the entirety of Nintendo's storied history(with exception of the VR boy)
if they fail to release this title for wii u it will further cement this fact

 

[funnystory]

I can consider two alternative possibilities here:
1) Nintendo will not break their now over one decade long tradition of keeping backwards compatibility in both handhelds and home consoles in one way or another in each successive generation. The easiest way to do this is to continue on their path of essentially upgrading the same hardware for each new generation. Since we know nothing concrete about the NX at this point except that it's a game console of some kind based on SE's DQ announcements, I'd entertain this as probable.

2) Nintendo will drop the Wii U from the plans entirely as not being financially viable, and shift development entirely to the NX. I could see this happening, but at the same time, I don't think Nintendo will want to burn their dwindling remaining fan base that badly. It would be far too risky of a move for the Nintendo we've come to know. At the same time, if Nintendo really does want to start reshaping themselves with the launch of the NX to start regaining their fanbase once more, maybe they'll see burning some bridges as necessary for building many more.

I thought nintendo already stated they would be canning the Wii u soon

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Splitting your audience into two is a incredibly stupid idea.

When that audience is so small it doesn't really matter much or at all.

Wii U so far has sold 10mil and Dreamcast? Same. So it's yet to sell more than a console from 17 years ago.

 

[Bladexdsl]

and if nintendo don't change their archaic backward ways their going to end up JUST LIKE SEGA

 

[WiiCube_2013]

and if nintendo don't change their archaic backward ways their going to end up JUST LIKE SEGA

As long as they keep milking out the yearly Pokémon, Zelda and Mario games they'll be in the business but for how much longer will people keep on buying it? Who knows. Maybe forever.

P.S.: I'd buy Mario Tennis Wii U if it cost like £15 at max because I don't see how the hell that's a full priced game.

 

[chrisluna413]

The NX will sure as hell not be backwards compatible to the Wii U, else they could have named it Wii U 2.

the same way they named the Wii the Gamecube 2, right? Think, kid...

and if nintendo don't change their archaic backward ways their going to end up JUST LIKE SEGA

no, sweety, that's not why the dreamcast failed lol.

 

[FusionGamer]

All Nintendo cares about is money. Please stop acting like they even remotely care about you all.