On the cards for a late 2022 release today comes word that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has been delayed to Spring 2023. Which is Autumn 2023 for Australia. The Legend of Zelda series producer, Eiji Aonuma, made the announcement via video highlighting the goal to create "something special" as the reasoning for more development time needed.

That and the world of Hyrule expanding to include the sky and new gameplay features.



Here's the full statement from Eiji Aonuma.

“We previously announced that we were aiming for a 2022 release for this game. However, we have decided to extend our development time a bit and change the release to spring 2023. For those of you who have been looking forward to a release this year, we apologise.

“As previously announced, the adventure in this sequel will take place not just on the ground as in the previous game, but also in the skies above. However, the expanded world goes beyond that, and there will be an even wider variety of features you can enjoy, including new encounters and new gameplay elements.

In order to make this game’s experience something special, the entire development team is continuing to work diligently on this game, so please wait a while longer.”

A definite blow for those that were expecting this to drop later this year, plus for gaming in general as we're talking about a sequel to an all-timer. In terms of high-profile Holiday 2022 releases that aren't Breath of the Wild 2, we've got God of War: Ragnarok and Starfield. Assuming those release plans don't change.