Topic: Is Zelda's delay the writing on the wall for the Wii U?

I agree, instead of having a "Version" of these games on the NX. Have a few big blockbuster launch titles and make the Wii U's library backwards compatible with the NX. If the advertising is solid those Wii U games will be bought.

When did Nintendo say that NX is the new Nintendo home console?

Thing is though, if Zelda was going to be ready for an early 2016 release, it'd at least show up at E3. But they're not even showing it off this year, which implies that Zelda is looking at a holiday 2016 release. I doubt though, that NX will be releasing in 2016 because they usually show off their hardware a year before it releases, and 2017 feels like a natural stopping point for the Wii U anyway. But one year apart doesn't stop them from remastering Zelda U for NX, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they're going to do something along those lines when NX releases.

Anyway, I don't think the delay of Zelda is really writing on the wall in and of itself, but the fact that they won't even show it off because they want to focus on 2015 is. That implies that the momentum is slowing in 2016 and they want to conserve some of their 2016 games because there's not going to be enough of them to afford to show off the larger, more intensive games early. If there's even any larger, more intensive games that they have left for Wii U.

I don't know

Well, they said its gonna be their next hardware system, a new handheld would be quite unlikely, now that the new 3ds has just come out.

Absolutely agreed! - Its one thing to delay a game - it happens and if they want to secure quality then its for the better - but not showing it off during e3 is not really good

IMHO e3 will be very important for nintendo and its wii u future (if there is any).

THey shouldnt put their whole focus on 2015 during e3, it might make some people wonder if there is gonna be something for 2016 left, save for Zelda U of course,

In terms of its actual lifecycle, no. In terms of sales, definitely. Nintendo lacks a big game to close out a year that was supposed to be big for Wii U.

Is this some kind of joke post?

Seems like another one of those guys who posts a doomed thread and then leaves the site without even replying.

To everybody saying they KNEW it wouldn't come out 2015, and there was NO WAY!!! "How could you even think that?" Skyward Sword came out Nov. 20, 2011. So the end of this year (when it almost certainly would've come, had it been released this year) would be 4 full years since the home console Zelda. That is not only completely realistic, but there have been many 4 year development cycles of Zelda games, although some, yes, have been longer. It's very realistic that it could've happened so stop acting like those of us that thought it was coming this year are ridiculous for thinking it.

And to the people who love to comment on making threads, I don't care. If I have something to say about a game, I want to start a new discussion on it separate from a thread on page 293. Sorry if don't have time to go read through everything written about a topic I want to discuss. If it's that big of a deal, the site will prevent me from making threads, and everyone will go right on living their lives just like they were. It's not a big deal. Get over there being more than one thread about something. That's the way every other forum in the world works.

"But it's not how this forum works" Well they haven't stopped me yet and if they do, they do.

We don't actually know what the NX is at this stage. I think the timing of the two announcements is unfortunate and is leading people to make pronouncements based on speculation and miss-truths. I think the Zelda announcement had little to do with NX, and more about letting investors know that a tent-pole title was not going to appear within the next financial year (March 31). The game looked a little rough in late December, so its hardly surprising the game is being delayed, but to suggest the game is being delayed to appear on a future platform which we know nothing about is kind of absurd.

Also Iwata has been on record numerous occasions to say that they are NOT making a hybrid device. I would guess that the X refers to a unified architecture, OS and account system shared between its next line of handhelds/console. If anything, I would guess that NX is akin to what the original DS was. Nintendo have never released a home console before a handheld in any generation, and I don't expect that to change. Iwata also suggested at a February investors meeting that there are more unannounced games coming to Wii U in 2015. So it's not like what we already know is all that is coming out.

I would be astounded to see Nintendo move Zelda wii u to another platform. Each console iteration has got at least one original Zelda title to itself, and I would see that as a massive slap in the face to early adopters and core fans. Thankfully, i'm pretty sure they would not do that. I think everyone should calm down and wait until E3 is over to start writing the wii u's eulogy.

We all know sales weren't going anywhere even if Zelda was releasing this year. Let's not pretend that Zelda would have done anything when 3D World, Kart, and Smash all failed.

Ayup. Zelda would not have been some miracle to the Wii U

Probably because...
Mario didn't sell it
Kart didn't sell it
Smash of all things hasn't sold it
Amiibo isn't selling it, though ironically amiibo will easily outsell it
Splatoon will most likely not sell it due to bad decisions with its features
anyone who wants Xenoblade most likely has a Wii U
anyone who wants Zelda... you see where this is going
if marketing......oh wait o_o

Sure I enjoy my wii u but damn has Nintendo made one mama mia of a mishap with it, poor marketing, didn't even try to capture third parties for the 4th time ina row.. and I hope this game does release next year and sell well for all the hard work they are putting into it, although part of me sees it going over to the NX and cross-releasing on that and Wii U but that's just a personal hunch considering 2016 isn't even a confirmed release window for Zelda, just their going to focus on development and making it the ultimate Zelda.

Overall I'm happy it got delayed, just means we will get a better game if it remains on the U or not and on the other hand i am a little upset, but at the same time I know that the U is too far in for even Zelda to save it. With that have a good weekend TingLz

True, but I think Nintendo was hoping to give it one last little bump in sales for the year with it. It just Sucks that there's no game to really do that now. Certainly not xbx or starfox

Launching with Mario 64 didn't help that console match, let alone exceed SNES numbers.

I think people take too much stock in the 'big name' games' ability to move hardware out of the gate. We all know those games will arrive at some stage in the console's life. If you open with 3D Mario and Zelda at launch, then where do you go from there?? What I think is crucial is that they create compelling hardware and listen to the sort of online features people want from a modern game console, and create games with those things in mind. I think they need to broaden their appeal, and creating some compelling software outside of their main franchises, that actually shows off the value of their console will be the key at launch. People like to get excited over 'new' things. Look at the way Splatoon has been received for instance.

Zelda launching on a next gen console wont make it move 100 million units. I think the most sensible course of action is to see this gen through, till 2017/18. Make sure the core fans are satisfied, then have another crack. Cutting short this gen will have dire consequences imo. Due to Nintendo's insistence on creating unique hardware and game experiences, there is absolutely no guarantee that the wii u successor will fare any better. They need to stay the course.

Thanks?

Anyway, amiibo outselling it is not that ironic. Amiibo are multiple small statues while the Wii U is a more expensive system. People will tend to have more amiibos than Wii Us each

Would we be having this discussion if the Wii U was selling well despite the "Reveal" of NX and Zelda being delayed?

I think if the Wii U was selling well, the DeNA partnership would have never happened and thus there wouldn't have been a single mention of the NX yet. The timeline would be all wonky you see. We are in the "Wii U fails (to sell alot)" timeline

Actually that's a good point, DeNA partnership was a bold move but something Nintendo needed to do to stay relevant, and if the Wii U was selling well relevance wouldn't be such of an issue.

For this delay to have something to do with the NX all of these things have to be true:
1. The NX is replacing the Wii U, this is the first and biggest hurdle IMO
2. The Zelda delay has to be significant. Not just slipping to early 2016 but maybe a full year
3. The NX has to launch earlier than people are expecting, it would be a new start right when the PS4 is at its peak
4. Nintendo's executives (who are fairly cautious, look how long they waited for mobile) would have to agree to all this

My guess is that the theory fails at the first hurdle and even if it doesn't it'll fail at the second. Also I think this NX theorising and press is potentially doing Nintendo and the Wii U in particular some damage. You would think they'd try to clear it up sooner rather than later. That said, maybe they're ok with screwing over the Wii U a bit if it means people are still buying the New 3DS? We're really just speculating here, we don't know what cards they're holding.

But is this news the end of the Wii U? Because all of sudden there's less interesting content for 2015. Well what games for the 3DS are there going to be in the second half of this year? We have Zelda in 2016 for the Wii U now which weakens the Wii U for 2015, for sure, but where's the equivalent stack of 2015 3DS titles? If the NX is soon then some titles will be pushed back for the NX launch. But which of their two platforms is losing more titles do you think? The one with Fire Emblem or the one with Xenoblade, Splatoon, Yoshi, Zelda, Starfox and Mario Maker?

Everyone is jumping up and down over just Zelda. Selective hearing I think. Have we forgotten the complaining about how the 3DS is being "neglected" to "prop-up" the Wii U? That's not a new thing. GBA/SNES VC? NES Remix? Mario Maker? If you want to read into things then there's a lot more evidence there for the 3DS' death.