The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the latest entry for long running game franchise. Its one of the most anticipated games for 2017 and people are already saying that it will be a contender for game of the year despite having very little information about the game. However, there are rumors that the game will be delayed past its current launch window on March 2017 due to issues localizing the game. The marks the second delay for the game as it was originally intended for the Wii U exclusively.
According to a rumor by Emily Rogers who claims to have sources at or close to Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will not be released on March 2017 as originally intended but will be pushed sometime during summer of 2017 which will be around June to August. This is due to localizing the entirety of the game from the text, NPC's and quests so that gamers from every region can enjoy the game at their language. Unfortunately, it seems that the process is taking longer that anticipated which may be completed at December.
It would appear that finishing the localization three months before the original release date of March as an early sign of releasing the game on time. However, a testing period of four-to-six months is expected after localization to remove bugs and glitches to fine-tune the game. So if localization does indeed finish on December, the earliest we could expect the game to be released will be on April.
If this rumors holds true, it would present Nintendo a unique problem on their upcoming console the Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Switch will be released on March 2017, hopefully alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as its launch title. If The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gets delayed, and launch at different date with the Switch, the console would lose its first "killer app" and will severely affect its sales. On the other hand, if Nintendo rushes Zelda to release with the Switch, it would risk releasing a game with issues and hurt its reputation. It wouldn't be surprising if Nintendo does go with the delay to remove any bugs since the company has been known to release games free of glitches and problems. Nintendo also has a lot in stake for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the Nintendo Switch as its most recent console the Wii U is considered a financial flop. It would be wise for Nintendo to ensure the quality of its products to increase its chances of a successful launch.
