At the start of 2020, the Switch's release lineup was a barren wasteland. Few games had been announced for the coming year, and Nintendo wasn't doing a great job of putting our fears of an empty 2020 to rest. Sure, we knew Animal Crossing was launching in March, but beyond that there wasn't much to look forward to. Thankfully, Nintendo has since made several big announcements — in particular, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and the upcoming Paper Mario: Origami King have done a great job of appeasing the masses. But what does the rest of the year hold? More importantly, will we see the Breath of the Wild sequel before 2020 comes to an end?

Unfortunately, we don't think that's going to happen. Here's why.

Where Is The Gameplay?

Nintendo has done a great job of dropping games out of nowhere this year. Just a few weeks ago we didn't even know a new Paper Mario existed, let alone was gearing up for a launch on July 17. But the odds of that happening with BOTW2 are slim to none. Nintendo knows that BOTW2 is a highly anticipated title and is the sequel to one of the best-selling Switch games of all time. With that in mind, it would be a wise move to drive up demand for the title by releasing trailers and drip-feeding fans information in the months leading up to release. Nothing would sell the game faster than a bunch of Zelda nerds whipping each other into a frenzy over pre-release speculation.

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Instead, we've only seen one brief teaser trailer. We don't know anything about the story, we don't know if Zelda is a playable character, if it includes co-op, or even if it will be called Breath of the Wild 2. Plus, the rumor that voice acting had already wrapped up seems to have been debunked, meaning there's still lots of work to be done. The fact that we know the game exists but haven't seen much new content leads us to believe we still have a long way to go until it hits store shelves.

Pandemic Delays

via Gamereactor

Then there is the ever-present pandemic, something industries around the world are still trying to contend with. Even if it was originally slated for a 2020 release, the less-than-desirable conditions for development have likely pushed it out of this year's lineup. Not to mention the economy is in shambles, and launching a high-profile title during this turmoil has the potential to hurt sales.

Sure, Animal Crossing didn't seem to suffer from its release, but that was at the very beginning of lockdown when gamers still had disposable income. Fast-forward to today and it might be a completely different story.

Breath of the Wild 2 wouldn't be the only game to delay their release due to work-from-home issues. Both Deathloop and Halo Infinite launch dates have been pushed back, thanks to the challenges of a completely remote workforce. The only difference is that BOTW2 hasn't even been given an official release date, making it even easier to delay.

Next-Gen Competition

via BGR

Sony and Microsoft haven't been deterred by the pandemic, however, and both are full steam ahead with their next-gen plans. That leads us to our third point — why would Nintendo launch BOTW2 into such a competitive marketplace? Zelda isn't a casual title, and there is the very real possibility that folks interested in BOTW2 are also interested in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Hype has been slowly building for next-gen consoles, and it's not unreasonable to think that some players might forgo Link's latest adventure to build up a library for their new system. Nintendo is a brilliant company; it probably doesn't want to worry about this kind of competition. It might be in Nintendo's best interest to let the next-gen hype die down before trying to launch what will likely be its flagship product for the foreseeable future.

A Lot Of Uncertainty Means A Lot Of Risk

This year has been full of uncertainty, and that trend seems on track to continue until 2021. A global pandemic, a faltering economy, next-gen console releases... none of these are things you want going on in the background when releasing a highly anticipated game. Nintendo may as well keep holding its cards close to its chest and announce BOTW2 when the climate is more conducive to selling millions of copies.

Uncertainty in the market will always mean risk, and Nintendo has no incentive to risk one of its most profitable franchises. If the company needed to boost numbers for shareholders or was planning its own next-gen release, then maybe a sequel would make sense. But that's not the world we find ourselves in, and we don't think Nintendo is willing to take that much of a risk when it really doesn't have to.

At the end of the day, there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason for Nintendo to drop a new Zelda title in 2020. The company is still putting up great numbers with Animal Crossing, has a few decent titles to get them through the year, and isn't hurting for short-term cash.

Hopefully, these worries are completely off-base and BOTW2 will launch in the next few months. We'd love nothing more than to wake up tomorrow and see a gameplay trailer that was inconspicuously posted to Nintendo's Twitter account. But from what little is known about the title, the current economic climate, and the competitiveness of the gaming market in the coming months, the stars would have to align for a 2020 release. Until then, we'll just dive back into Breath of the Wild and bide our time.

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