As a result of Nintendo‘s announcement that the highly anticipated sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would be delayed from its original release date of 2022 to Spring 2023, the Kyoto-based gaming giant’s stock price plummeted by a factor of 6. Nintendo’s stock price dropped by a factor of 6.
This comes just after Nintendo’s stock had a significant increase of 25 percent year-over-year (as reported by Reuters). Although the Zelda sequel has been delayed, Nintendo still has a slew of significant titles slated to debut this year, including Splatoon 3 and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, as well as Nintendo Switch Sports and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. This makes the company’s current downturn all the more noteworthy.
“If there’s a year in which Nintendo can get away with pushing Zelda out of the picture, it’s this one. Considering that the fiscal year has not even begun, they have stretched out all of these possible blockbuster titles,” said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy. “They have spread out all of these potential blockbuster games,” he added.
This also means that Nintendo’s open-world offering will not be competing with other high-profile releases in the genre, such as Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, and the upcoming Starfield, for both sales and critical acclaim, giving the game a much brighter spotlight to shine in when it launches next year, according to the company.