GameStop Thinks We'll Be Playing Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Before April

I still think Breath of the Wild will be a release title

We can only hope, I would love for it to be a launch game!

I'd say it won't be a launch title. In typical Zelda fashion it'll be late to the party(it was originally meant to come out last year, nevermind next year). Eurogamer and others have said it won't be ready for March. Laura Kate Dale just today posted a Tweet saying that Nintendo are now aiming to have it ready for June.

https://twitter.com/LaurakBuzz/status/801370512379224065

The fact that Dr Strange is shown that it will be promoted big in Q4 implies that this was drawn up some time ago- BOTW was probably coming out in March then- but I somehow doubt it still is.

Yes please.

The thing is though, we won't have Zelda and Mario at launch.

They're Nintendos two biggest hitters. Having them both at launch would be phenomenal for the launch. But leaves the rest of the year without a truly huge title.

They could have Smash and Mario Kart later in the year of course, but they're rumoured to be enhanced ports rather than new games.

Not sure. I don't expect Mario and Zelda at launch. Mario would probably be better for sales, but I'd prefer Zelda.

Sounds like sloppiness on GameStop's part.

I think it's a clever delay. How many WiiU owners would just buy Zelda in march rather than a switch? By delaying it one may as well buy a switch and wait

The Target listing is false. Why would Nintendo release the game in the middle of E3, a year after its reveal.

I'll be buying both versions on Wii U and Switch.
Wii U because Twilight Princess on Cube now sells for ridiculous amounts and Switch to compare with the U, and take on the go.
Best of both Wild worlds.

I think it will be a release title on March 17th. . .

Give Skyrim a chance to sell, Nintendo! We can wait until the summer or around Xmas for the new Zelda. Let 3rd parties sell their games first. Stick with 3d Mario at launch.

That's what I think anyway.

@Dakt Not really as LKD is saying it's coming June,not before April like Target has it.

I keep saying that the allegedly delayed release is nothing but speculation based on the rumour that localisation is taking longer than expected, but there's no reason to make that assumption.

@OorWullie Target says June... GameStop says before April.

@DragonEleven @Dakt Yep,my bad.Regardless,considering how much of Eurogamers and LKD's leaks leaks have been correct the last few weeks,I've no reason to doubt they have inside knowledge.

@OorWullie Their leaks only claim that localisation is taking longer than expected... not that the game will be delayed as a result... that's just their speculation.

@Dakt but a 3d Mario would sell the switch at launch. There was no 3d Mario on the 3ds or WiiU launch, Oot came in the September after launch (along with a big price cut). I'd buy that and Skyrim as my two launch games. Then another 3rd party game a month later and so on, then Zelda comes out in September of course I'll buy it then.

If Zelda is a launch title, Mario isn't, then Skyrim would sell bad(or even, not good enough), 2 big Action RPGs, cause people have played the standard Skyrim already, not everyone has the new version of Skyrim, including myself.

My point is, Nintendo should stick with launching Zelda at least 6 months after the switches launch to let 3rd parties make some big sales, so more people buy the switch. I'm not making sense but I know what I'm trying to say lol

I just wish it will be released on Wii U after all.

@Dakt oh yeah I remember that. But it would get the hardcore 10million WiiU owners (I count the other 3millon systems as casuals, like my nephew who is 7 and his friend same age, their mammy's bought them for them, after asking me about the WiiU of course, ha) to pick up a Switch in the launch window, aka the ones who bought 3d world, galaxy 1&2, sunshine and 64. Zelda will sell no matter when Nintendo releases it. I'm willing to wait 6 months for Zelda, to get a larger user base which works out for all of us here in the long term.

Sure Mario maker will be out for the switch within the 6 months of launch(rumours) too, so that 'kinda' covers the NSMB franchise for a while also.

I just want 3rd party games to sell straight out the gate, because we all know Nintendo games always outsell 3rd party games when released at the same time on a Nintendo system.

@KiWiiU_Freek I wouldn't be too sure of that as the Gamecube TP plays differently to the Wii.

As for what Gamestop said, what do they know about games apart from how to overcharge?

I think Gamestop put Zelda there as they assumed it would be a launch title, like all of us.
I think it will launch in June, after E3, where they will have the last big marketing push for it. It also gives Skyrim time to sell, and not compete directly with Zelda.

@Dakt This. LKD hasn't done anything to make herself a more plausible source of leaked information than Emily Rogers, whom, as I recall, got everyone's hopes up for Mother 3 coming out this year.
My cat is a more reliable source of information than either of them. At least she isn't making things up or using someone else's information when she tells me she's hungry.

I just want a quality experience. If that means waiting until June, so be it.

Fingers crossed

@readyletsgo If the Skyrim port is a lunch title, I doubt it would be a console seller, seeing as it's been out on other systems for so long already... more of a library filler for people to get as a secondary game, like most ports on Nintendo consoles.

Nintendo need to get as many first-party console sellers released on the Switch around launch as possible, in order to get sales high enough for long-term third party support, that could keep the console going during longer gaps between first-party titles later on.
That was part of the problem with the Wii U... even though it had fairly decent third party support at launch, without the first-party titles to get the system going, sales weren't high enough to maintain the interest of third-party developers.

I'm fine with waiting until June like most members have been saying here I'm happy with just third party games at launch... I don't even need the 3D Mario if the other games are good... definitely getting Skyrim and maybe some 2k if it's a good port love me some basketball 🏀!

Disclaimer: I'll get the 3D Mario game but not at launch 🙂

Praying this is true. I have a long flight to a week vacation in May. I wanna bring my Switch with BotW!!! But Skyrim will do too...

@DragonEleven Well, if the Skyrim port is a lunch title, then I wonder what we'll get at dinner...

I don't care when it hits the Switch, I just want the WiiU version @[email protected]

Is it strange that, of all the events they have in their calendar, E3 doesn't show up there at all?

I'm leaning toward the May/June area for a Zelda release date. The fact is, no one knows when it's coming out. Gamestop says March, Target says June - it'll probably be somewhere within that range.

A March 17th release date would be great. The live action Beauty and the Beast comes out on that day too. I can go to the movies and pick up a Switch. That'll be a pretty good for me.

The summer or later timeline makes more sense than March if it's true that localization isn't finished yet. Even the game-mill publishers need time to test their rushed and buggy product before it's prematurely shoved to market and this is Nintendo and further more a Zelda title. They will take whatever time is needed.

I find it more interesting that on this slide of important marketing waypoints and events, E3 is missing entirely from their key annual events... a list that includes Comic Con, May the 4th and Geek Pride Day.

Can we just safely say that we have absolutely no idea when it will release?

@amiiboacid
Being a year after its reveal has nothing to do with anything.

June 13th release on Target just happens to coincide with the first day of e3. Now, what are the odds of that by chance? Slim to none. Placeholders are almost always the last day of the month.

It's a perfect plan. Wii U struggled because they wasted their launch during the holidays, then had nothing for 9 straight months.

With Switch, if they release in March they're further in the year, and don't need the holidays to have a great launch anyways. Standout sales in March/April, then the decline comes in May. That's when Zelda comes in. The following month is e3, they can plaster advertising all over the expo saying "releases today!!!" and gives them one last e3 for Zelda exposure.

Then they've only got 5 months til the holidays again, with a line of top Wii U remasters and home console Pokémon to carry it through to November, where sales will jump again and hopefully be enough to keep momentum going.

Gotta look at the long game, not the short game.

The rumour about Zelda being delayed seems a bit crazy to me... I mean maybe it's delayed in Europe? That seems partly more reasonable... good job it's not region locked and we can all import though right?

I really, really hope this isn't delayed... I'm going to double dip and buy both but at this point just release them separately Nintendo.

This is not an additional delay. Nintendo never announced BOTW was a launch title on NX. People are assuming this is a Twilight Princess type affair with GCN/Wii. It's not and has never bee the case. It was delayed to 2017 but no one said when.

Let it be delayed. I'm fine with waiting a bit longer. If I pick up a Switch at launch there'll purportedly be a 3D Mario to play and I never got too far into Skyrim on 360. I'll play that. And whatever else there is. Patience is a virtue

I sure hope it's not a launch title, not if it's going to be the same game we played at E3 with its sparse world and jittery framerate. The game looked like it still needed lots of work, and maybe more than 9 months of it.

As long as we even get the game at this point.

That doesn´t matter if Nintendo thinks otherwise.

Gamestop also thinks its funny to give you $7.30 for 10 games.

Before April 2020 do they mean by any chance???

It's the third year of this generation and so far there isn't a good Star Wars game. This is very sad.

@Dakt

They don't become system sellers just because they sold a lot. That's not what that means.

@eltomo
All the more reason to buy both.
See how different they are.
I wouldn't know about GameStop, we don't have them here in Australia. They sound like EB Games to me, but EB at least price match, and they take pre-orders for games and consoles years in advance.

Its nice to keep Nlife active, but there comes a point when its no longer "news"

If at launch they that would be amazing and if its June they that's cool aswell.

now they say it will be released in June 2017