Other than that, Nintendo is playing its cards with its 2023 release schedule close to its chest, as usual. Rumors of new hardware are coming thick and fast, as is traditional whenever we move into a new year. Personally, we imagine Nintendo will ride Zelda for all it’s worth this year, drinking every last drop of Switch juice before unveiling the Switch’s true successor to launch in 2024 with the flagship Mario title. The company will be looking to emulate the success of the Switch’s first year — with a solid monthly release schedule for the next console, in whatever form it takes — and we wouldn’t be surprised if it follows the Switch’s template as closely as possible in terms of announcement timing and release schedule.
Obviously, if there is any validity to our wild-but-reasonable guesses, this would mean a diversion of resources and games far from Switch, putting extra pressure on Tears of the Kingdom to live up to expectations. Is that even possible? Well, Nintendo has gone above and beyond our wildest expectations in the past, multiple times, so it’s definitely possible. Assuming TOTK does their job and supports the Switch’s 2023, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the last few Wii U ports appear in the second half of the year to pad out the release calendar. Nintendo is already working on ‘Wind Waker HD Deluxe’ and ‘Twilight Princess HD Deluxe’ years now, right?
But who can say? If there’s any company willing to tear up the book, it’s Nintendo. Whatever the future holds, we are thrilled to have you aboard the good ship USS Nintendo Life as we sail into the uncharted waters of 2023. From all NL staff, management and associates, Happy New Year to all. It’ll be a good ‘un.
