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Yes, it seems Nintendo could have shown off the new Legend of Zelda for WiiU at E3 this year, but chose not to. One would think that hyping up three upcoming LoZ titles would be exactly what Nintendo would do, but Miyamoto thought otherwise. In an interview with GamesIndustry, Miyamoto explains exactly why showing off a brand new LoZ for consoles would have been a mistake:
GamesIndustry: The one game many of us were anticipating to be announced today and that many fans have been looking for is a brand new Zelda on Wii U, apart from the Wind Waker HD makeover. Perhaps this is a better question for Aonuma-san, but why haven’t we heard about a new Wii U Zelda?
Miyamoto: So it certainly is a better question for Mr. Aonuma but we are working on a new Wii U Zelda ,as we do whenever we work on a new hardware system. Development on the new Wii U Zelda game, we’ve pretty much determined our direction on that and the teams are working hard on that. In fact, we actually did consider showing it at E3 this year but we were worried that if we showed the new Wii U Zelda game then that would attract all of the focus, and really what we want people to be aware of and pay attention to here at E3 are the playable games like Pikmin 3 that we have coming in the immediate future, because a lot of fun is with the games that are coming out this year. So that’s why we decided not to show it this year at E3, but it’s certainly something people can look forward to.
Of course, as I’m sure you’re aware E3 used to be the place where you made all of your big announcements but as we’re seeing more and more, particularly with the advantages we have with the internet, we’re able to make announcements really at any time. So the other thing we didn’t want to do was go through all the news here at E3 – we wanted to be able to have some news to continue to share with consumers over time.
According to Miyamoto, they chose to not show the WiiU LoZ because they thought it would distract consumers from the upcoming products Nintendo has coming out this year. It certainly is a valid way of approaching the situation. Announcing this new LoZ at E3 would have gained tons of media attention and could have even overshadowed the Wind Waker HD title or the Link to the Past sequel. It's also debatable whether or not an announcement trailer with a release date would have taken away sales from Nintendo games releasing this year. People are already waiting out on titles like Bayonetta 2 or Smash Bros. Universe, so for Nintendo to announce one of their most anticipated games and say it would release sometime 2014 or 2015 could have resulted in people waiting even longer to buy a WiiU. With that said, it would seem Nintendo will announce the WiiU LoZ over Nintendo Direct sometime after E3 has concluded.
What do you all think? Was this a smart move by Nintendo, or would you have rather seen a new console Legend of Zelda at this E3?
Comments
10 years, 10 months ago
It certainly seems couterintuitive not to do even a teaser announce as the huge publicity would be very useful and the other games would still have garnered plenty of publicity.
In a way it could be seen as a signal that Nintendo isn't panicking and doesn't feel the need to immediately show all that they have in the pipeline. Looks to me like they feel confident enough to keep to their own timetables and that they will find their niche in the market and that sales should pick up. They may be right, particularly after the nightmare E3 Microsoft has had. Nintendo's lineup seems incredibly safe, but as Microsoft now know, sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.
10 years, 10 months ago
Sounds good, but Nintendo's systems have always been a second console that I used to buy all their first party stuff, and I'm on board with them anyway.
10 years, 10 months ago
A good idea IMO, with Nintendo direct we see a lot of stuff from them more frequently so it's not a bad thing we didn't see it at e3 especially since they did not have a conference.
10 years, 10 months ago
It's alright. Nintendo Directs are actually great for information. I enjoy them more than any live conference because they're paced better for the fans.
10 years, 10 months ago
Of course it would distract me from other upcoming products, Zelda is the main reason I purchased a Wii U.
Can't wait for the release of Windwaker HD and with news of Aonuma taking inspiration from Skyrim and other open world games for the new 3D Zelda, it's going to be a good one!