On the heels of their announcement regarding the delay of the highly anticipated The Legend of Zelda for Wii U, Nintendo has confirmed that it will only be focusing on 2015 games at E3 this year.
“As Mr. Aonuma announced, The Legend of Zelda game for Wii U is no longer targeted as a 2015 release. Rather than sticking to a specific schedule, the team wants to make this the most complete and the best game it can possibly be. The new launch timing has not yet been determined. Because we’d like to focus on developing the game, we aren’t planning on showing it at this year’s E3, where we will be highlighting games launching in 2015. We will let you know when we’re ready to share more specifics.”
I find this most curious- just why are Nintendo not planning on showing anything beyond 2015? While they are more reticent to share games far away from release than other publishers, they have done it regularly ion every major event or Nintendo Direct that they have had so far- so why stick to just 2015 this year? Is it because they can’t show off future games? Possibly because they might be coming to their new system (the NX?), and so showing them would tip their hand early? (Currently, the NX is slated for a full reveal in 2016).
I also find Zelda’s status curious, in that sense- are we looking at a game that might become a Wii U/NX multiplat game?
Currently, nothing else is known about Nintendo’s E3 plans. We don’t even know if they will have a traditional stage show this year, or if they will follow up on their excellent and unconventional format for the event from last year.
Whatever happens, we will keep you posted.