With the disastrous reception and subsequent poor sales the Wii U experienced, it's imperative that Nintendo hits the ground running with the Switch in March next year. Although we still know very little about the home console hybrid, it at least looked as though The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was going to be a launch title to help boost sales. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
As Eurogamer reports, sources close to Nintendo backed up by well-known Nintendo tipster Emily Rogers, confirm that Breath of the Wild simply won't be ready in time for March.
Nintendo will be releasing the game worldwide on both the Wii U and the Switch, so localization needs to be completed before it can ship. The localization process has apparently not gone smoothly and therefore it won't be completed until the end of 2016. After that, Nintendo expects "four-to-six months of testing" to follow, meaning at the earliest the game will arrive in May. At that point I suspect it will be pushed back to after the summer and launch in September.
Nintendo never confirmed that Breath of the Wild was going to be a launch game, but even so, I'm sure many gamers were expecting it to be one. It also means many who were going to purchase a Switch on launch day to get Breath of the Wild will now be asking themselves, "what launch games make a purchase worthwhile?"
We have to hope that Nintendo has some other must-have first-party games lined up for the launch of the Switch. A new Mario Kart or the Mario game teased in the Switch trailer would certainly fill the gap left by Zelda. Strong entries from third-party publishers are also essential.
The next official news about the Switch will happen on January 12 when Nintendo is streaming a live presentation. We can expect to learn the launch date and what the launch games are.