As E3 2021 fast approaches, some Nintendo insiders have revealed more of the company’s plans for the event including what to expect regarding the long-anticipated sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
E3 2021 will be an all-digital event, featuring some of gaming’s biggest companies including Microsoft, Ubisoft, Konami, Capcom, and of course, Nintendo. With so many eyes tuned in for announcements, we can expect some big news to drop.
As Dexerto previously reported, leaker SamusHunter claims that Nintendo will have some Smash Ultimate and Breath of the Wild 2 news at E3 and now, more of the company’s plans have surfaced.
Prominent insider Jeff Grubb posted on the Resetera forums that Nintendo will be announcing its plans by the end of May – specifically in the last full week of the month.
“Probably not next week, but the week after,” he said on May 13.
Elsewhere, on Twitter, he suggested that BOTW 2 could be creeping up on Horizon Forbidden West’s release date in the form of a meme.
Even though the Horizon Zero Dawn sequel doesn’t have a release date set, it is expected to release in 2021. The fact that Zelda could be occupying that spot as well implies Breath of the Wild 2 is actually coming out this year.
— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) May 12, 2021
However, this does contradict fellow leaker Zippo who wrote on his blog that the sequel won’t be releasing in 2021. “If any Nintendo game was affected by the pandemic, it was this one. From what I heard, the game is nearing completion, but a release by the end of the year just isn’t seeming feasible,” he wrote.
“The game needs a bit more time, and with the last year in mind, that’s entirely understandable.”
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SamusHunter2 also addressed Zippo’s claims on Twitter writing: “The title is planned for this year but as I’ve always said, developers aren’t given a defined time/budget until they’re satisfied with the quality they’ve achieved.”
Surely it was also one of the titles on which they worked hardest to reduce as much as possible the delay covid programming side
— Samus Hunter | Nintendo Leak and News Inside (@SamusHunter2) May 14, 2021
Not much is known about the BOTW sequel, including its full name, but considering how it helped launch the Switch as cross-gen title with the Wii, it’s possible the same could happen if Nintendo plans on releasing a Switch Pro around the same time.
It’s also possible that Horizon is being delayed to 2022 and that’s where it could find itself competing with BOTW 2 in the future.
Finally, the two also dug into the possibility of a new Mario Kart and it doesn’t seem like Mario Kart 9 will be next in line, but something a bit different.
MARIO KARTAs said so many times, I'm not convinced Nintendo is working on a direct sequel to MK8DX, they definitely have plans in the future with the Smartphone title as well. As for what Yabuki's team is working on, I still don't have any specific details.
— Samus Hunter | Nintendo Leak and News Inside (@SamusHunter2) May 14, 2021
“I’ve heard multiple times that Yabuki’s team are hard at work on a new Mario Kart of some sort, and have been for the last 3 years. I also made sure to specify that this project wasn’t Mario Kart Tour, Live Circuit or the Universal theme park ride,” Zippo claimed.
Meanwhile, SamusHunter backed this up stating that while they’re “not convinced Nintendo is working on a direct sequel to MK8DX” they do “have plans in the future with the Smartphone title as well.”
It will be interesting to see what ends up transpiring come June 12 and Nintendo finally shows its hands. Luckily, we don’t have that much longer to wait!
