Zelda Wii U won't come out this year after all

The Wii U's lack of flagship games - or many games at all, if we're being honest - is no secret to owners of the console and non-owners alike.

So it stung even more when Nintendo revealed today that the Wii U Legend of Zelda game has been pushed back into 2016.

There's at least a good reason for not putting the next Zelda game out in 2015 like Nintendo promised, and producer Eiji Aonuma went into detail about the choice in a Facebook update.

Bad news, good reasons

"The directors and the many members of the development team have been working hard developing the game to make it the best it can be," he says in the video. "In these last three months, as the team has experienced firsthand the freedom of exploration that hasn't existed in any Zelda game to date, we have discovered several new possibilities for this game.

"As we have worked to turn these possibilities into reality, new ideas have continued to spring forth, and it now feels like we have the potential to create something that exceeds even my own expectations."

He said he'd rather focus on making a good game than meeting a strict schedule, and therefore the Wii U's Zelda game won't arrive this year.

Nintendo of America added on Twitter that the game won't even appear at E3 2015, suggesting there's a major overhaul underway, and from the vague hints that Aonuma gave it seems the game could be legitimately fantastic.

Damaged reputation

But despite Nintendo and Aonuma's optimism about how hard the team is working and how good the next Zelda game will be, this is a blow for Wii U owners - the poor things - who are perpetually waiting for a new game to buy.

This is hardly the first big Wii U game that's been delayed, and indeed, the challenges of HD development seem to have thrown a wrench in the development of every major Nintendo game since the console came out.

Over that time plenty of great Wii U games have actually been released, and the system now has a respectable library of solid Nintendo games, a considerable advantage that the Xbox One and PS4 obviously lack.

But the damage done to Nintendo's reputation in this time - especially among the company's most ardent fans - may be hard to overcome, no matter how great the Nintendo NX turns out to be.

• Here's what we're expecting at IFA 2015

Via Polygon