In an announcement via Facebook (you will need to have a Facebook account to view the video), Lead Producer of the upcoming Legend of Zelda for Wii U Eiji Aonuma has all but confirmed that the long awaited title is more than likely not going to make it shelves before the end of 2015. There had been some concern that the title, which is expected to be the largest and most expansive entry in the franchise, that there had been delays in development and the Holiday 2015 target was no longer attainable. Aonuma today stated the following:
Since I declared at The Game Awards in December that the game would launch in 2015, the directors and the many members of the development team have been working hard developing the game to make it the best it can be.
In these last three months, as the team has experienced firsthand the freedom of exploration that hasn't existed in any Zelda game to date, we have discovered several new possibilities for this game.
As we have worked to turn these possibilities into reality, new ideas have continued to spring forth, and it now feels like we have the potential to create something that exceeds even my own expectations. As I have watched our development progress, I have come to think that rather than work with meeting a specific schedule as our main objective, and releasing a game that reflects only what we can create within that scheduled time, I feel strongly that our focus should be to bring all these ideas to life in a way that will make The Legend of Zelda on Wii U the best game it can possibly be.
So, I must apologize to you all that were expecting the game by year's end, but we are no longer making a 2015 release our number one priority. Instead, our priority is to make it the most complete and ultimate Zelda game.
I hope to use the added time to make The Legend of Zelda for Wii U into a game that will reward you for your patience, so thank you for your continued support
There's something unique about the message that Eiji Aonuma has released today. Usually, those of us in the press will receive a simple PR update that states a game has been pushed back and receive some type of update, usually a quarterly target, and we go from there. Eiji Aonuma decided to deliver the message first hand and explain why.
So, there it is, Zelda fans. Unfortunately, 2015 will not be the year that Link returns to consoles, but it seems to be for the better.
