Nintendo released its annual financial statement on May 7, 2020, and it includes information about its finances, COVID-19 impacts, and plans going forward into the 2021 fiscal year (FY21). As part of those future plans, a launch schedule was provided beyond April 2020. The list is sparse and only two of those included even have a set release date. Everything else is either TBA or “2020.”
The Breath of the Wild sequel is one of those games which are currently TBA along with Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4. It is always possible that this TBA designation is simply for the sake of secrecy and one or more titles could still see release in this fiscal year. However, it is disheartening to not see a 2020 confirmed date for Breath of the Wild’s Sequel given how light the Switch release lineup currently is looking.
Overall, the report shows some very positive results for the previous year. At the same time, however, it does show some concerns going into this coming year. COVID-19 is a big uncertainty on the horizon for the entire industry, but even without that being an issue, Nintendo is facing a very weak release lineup going into this fiscal year. It is hardly a time to be concerned for Nintendo’s long-term future, but it may well turn out to be Nintendo’s weakest year since the release of the Switch unless they pull out a lot of secret projects with extremely short windows between announcement and release. Hopefully we will see the Breath of the Wild sequel as one such surprise announcements.
