There is a new rumor that the scope of Link’s biggest adventure yet, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, is making localization take longer than expected. According to Emily Rogers, localization should finish in December. She also said that the game will require “four-to-six months of testing” after that.
In a recent blog post, she wrote:
“In early September, I heard rumblings that the localization for the game was becoming more work than anyone had anticipated. They have to localize all of the game’s text, NPCs, quests, etc. Then, around October, I received another update that Zelda’s localization was still not going as smoothly as planned. ‘A very ambitious game, maybe even too much’ claimed one particular source.”
If Zelda: Breath of the Wild ends up not being a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, this will indeed be sad news for fans. The extra wait won’t be too long, but if it’s necessary it’s necessary. Of course if this turns out to be true, another consequence is that the launch lineup for the Nintendo Switch will be weaker as a result.
Unfortunately, there is more to the story than just that. Rogers also added that more sources have come forward in November:
“That brings us to the month of November. More sources have now come forward and corroborated my information. They’ve told me that localization for Breath of the Wild might not be finished until the end of December. After localization is completed, this game will require between (at least) four-to-six months of testing. As I mentioned earlier, this is one of Nintendo’s largest and most ambitious games ever. The amount of testing required for a huge open-world game like this is enormous. Nintendo’s intention is to have the game as bug-free as possible.”
After the game’s huge showing at E3 2016, Nintendo simply said the game would launch in 2017. However, they never explicitly said it would be launching in March alongside the Nintendo Switch (as the press and fans alike have largely assumed). Emily Rogers also stated that she has heard from sources that Zelda: Breath of the Wild is “running more smoothly” on the Nintendo Switch in comparison to the Wii U version. That doesn’t come as the most surprising thing in the world since the Nintendo Switch is the more powerful system.
Rogers thinks it is unlikely the game will make the Nintendo Switch launch window, saying:
“Based on what I’ve heard, I have no reason to believe that Breath of the Wild will be a March title. There’s a much higher chance of Breath of the Wild being a summer 2017 game.”
Hopefully this rumor isn’t true, but regardless of it fans will hold on to hope until Nintendo makes an official announcement in the coming months.
