Breath of the Wild 2 & Metroid Prime 4 listed 'TBA' on Nintendo's latest release schedule [UPDATED]

Nintendo's recent financial earnings report revealed slight updates to Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2's release forecast.

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UPDATED (2/1/2021 - 8:26am PT)The original release of this story denoted that Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4 were tentatively slated on Nintendo's 2021 schedule. Being in that said release schedule still lists the two titles as "TBA" at this time, the title and story have been adjusted to clarify that release dates for both games are still entirely unknown at this time.


It might be a given that Nintendo is hard at work on getting both Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 ready for release as soon as possible. Both games have been confirmed to be in the works for quite some time, though we’ve heard little of official updates on them for some time. Nonetheless, Nintendo itself shared just the vaguest tidbit of info about both games in its recent 2021 fiscal year earnings report. Both Metroid Prime 4 and the Breath of the Wild sequel may be on schedule 2021 releases.

This bit of info came out of the February 1, 2021 Financial Results Briefing and conference call on Nintendo’s Investor Relations website. Featured near the end of said report’s Explanatory Material document is a release schedule for Nintendo covering Japan, US, and European game launches in 2021. It’s on that list that both Metroid Prime 4 and “The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” appear, albeit with “(temp.)” tags and "TBA" next to them. Conversely, Bayonetta 3 is also listed '"TBA" schedule, but without the temp tag, with PlatinumGames further having confirmed that details are coming in 2021.

Nintendo's 2021 schedule of releases currently has Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 on target for 2021.
Nintendo's 2021 schedule of releases currently has Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 on a seemingly foggy target.

Nintendo’s latest financial reporting had a lot of good news to share for Nintendo investors, with the company upping expectance of its dividends by 49% by the end of the fiscal year. This came on the back of reveals that over 31 million copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons had been sold, as well as over 79 million Nintendo Switches.

If Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4 are truly coming in 2021, that marks two major franchise entries at minimum for this year. With the Nintendo Switch launch of Super Mario 3D World with the addition of Bowser’s Fury and other unannounced projects possibly coming, it’s indeed looking like another fabulous year to be a Nintendo fan.

Want to guess with us at what could be coming from Nintendo alongside Metroid Prime 4 and Breath of the Wild 2? Be sure to check out our full predictions of Nintendo plans and releases in 2021.

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

From The Chatty
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      February 1, 2021 7:48 AM

      I'm unsure if I want Metroid 4 to drop on the same day as a Nintendo Direct showcasing it, or if I'd rather see some quality marketing and Nintendo Directs building up the game months prior to its release (in both of these scenarios, I'm thinking the release date would be the same either way).

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        February 1, 2021 8:12 AM

        I just want it to be good, I’ll probably be buying a Switch because of it.

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        February 1, 2021 8:25 AM

        [deleted]

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          February 1, 2021 8:35 AM

          If the rumors of a “Switch Pro” are accurate it’d make a lot of sense to launch at least one of these two games with it.

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          February 1, 2021 8:40 AM

          Sweet, that will give me the chance to purchase the Prime trilogy for a 3rd time, and the original game for the 4th time.

          I really need to get around to finishing the first and playing the other two.

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            February 1, 2021 10:44 AM

            I tried Metroid Prime twice, once on Gamecube and once on Wii. I like the game and the controls but I could not stand the constant backtracking so never finished it or moved to the next two games.

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              February 1, 2021 11:54 AM

              Constant backtracking is not how I'd describe any of those games.

              You will revisit areas, sure, but generally with equipment that changes how you interact with them.

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                February 1, 2021 11:59 AM

                Maybe I just couldn't figure out where to go quickly enough then, because I was constantly backtracking to figure out what to do.

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          February 1, 2021 11:52 AM

          I have virtually zero doubt Zelda will hit this year.

          Metroid could go either way, though I was initially thinking 2022 after their announcement of the development reboot.

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        February 1, 2021 3:53 PM

        Pretty sure M4 will have a physical release, so it won't be a same day launch.

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      February 1, 2021 8:09 AM

      Botw 2 is very likely coming out this year.

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      February 1, 2021 11:38 AM

      I just want to see one 3-second clip from Metroid Prime 4. I'm dying to know what it looks like

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      February 1, 2021 11:56 AM

      I'm super interested in seeing more stuff on BotW 2 especially in terms of building on the first game. I really want more depth to the world and interesting side quests.

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