Nintendo reveals Zelda release date in 2023 announcement avalanche

Nintendo showed no signs of decelerating its Switch console business Tuesday with an online showcase that revealed major releases deep into 2023.

Driving the news: Nintendo's show-closer was a short trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the repeatedly delayed sequel to its 2017 Switch launch hit Breath of the Wild.

• Having missed a late 2022 release, it's slated for May 12, 2023.

Nintendo also announced:

• Fire Emblem Engage — The latest in Nintendo's turn-based strategy series, for Jan. 20, 2023.
• Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe — A remake of a multiplayer Wii action game slated for Feb. 24, 2023.
• Octopath Traveler 2 — A role-playing game from SquareEnix for Feb. 24, 2023.
• Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse — A port of a Wii horror game that was previously only released in Japan, for early 2023.
• Pikmin 4 — The long-awaited sequel about controlling armies of tiny plant-men (teased by Nintendo developers since 2015) for 2023.
• GoldenEye 64, Pilotwings 64 and other classic Nintendo 64 games coming to the company's Nintendo Switch Online subscription service "soon."

The big picture: Nintendo's Switch system will be more than 6 years old by the time the new Zelda is released, the far end of the timeframe during which Nintendo has heavily supported its consoles.

• But the system has remained hot and Nintendo has promised to support it longer.
• Today's announcements, which show Nintendo also dipping back into its older libraries for remasters and remakes (a favorite strategy) show Nintendo can stretch the Switch's life for quite some time.