At E3 2021, Nintendo hosted a jampacked Nintendo Direct presentation that made the company’s plans for the rest of the year much clearer. As expected, Nintendo has an impressive slate ofNintendo Switchgames on the horizon, ranging from exclusive titles to multiplatform games. Nintendo recently released a new graphic highlighting its upcomingNintendo Switchgames, including a few titles on deck for 2022, though the image has a glaring omission.
For the 2022 games, Nintendo hasSplatoon 3,Pokemon Legends: Arceus,Project Triangle Strategy, andMario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hopelisted. Conspicuous by its absence isThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, which was confirmed for a 2022 release during the Nintendo Direct presentation. Some fans may be worried that this means Nintendo isn’t confident thatBreath of the Wild 2will launch in 2022as advertised, but there’s no need to panic just yet.
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The more likely explanation as to why Nintendo leftThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2off the graphic is due to the game’s title. As it stands,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2has no official title, simply referred to by Nintendo as aBreath of the Wildsequel. Nintendo has said that it would be “spoilers” to revealThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2title just yet, which could be why it’s not shown in the image as a 2022 game.
The small text below the graphic mentions that the listed titles are “just some of the games” coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2021 and 2022. So fans read in-between the lines as to what this means for some of their anticipated games should stay calm for now. After all,Nintendohas yet to really finalize its 2022 release plans, and is clearly focused on promoting games for the 2021 holiday season.
Other high profile Nintendo Switch games that aren’t included in the graphic areBayonetta 3andMetroid Prime 4. It’s been years since fans have seenBayonetta 3, to the point where some are worried that the game is going through a tumultuous development. Nintendo has insisted thatBayonetta 3development is going fine, so its absence from the list doesn’t mean anything in regards to its potential 2022 release date.
Metroid Prime 4, on the other hand, is a completely different story.Metroid Prime 4development rebooted with Retro Studiosjust a couple of years ago, and so it seems highly unlikely that the game will be out in 2022. A more likely scenario is that it will be a 2023 game, but likeBayonetta 3, it too hasn’t been seen in years, so fans will just have to standby for more information.
