Rumor: Skyward Sword Releasing November 25 in Europe, Why This Makes Sense

Sounds like Nintendo recently had a sit-down with European retailers to discuss the fall lineup, since aside from hearing about Xenoblade Chronicles’ debut there’s also word of Skyward Sword‘s release date floating around the Euroblogs. According to some French retailers, the new Motion Plus Zelda title will debut in Europe on November 25, falling right in line with the two projected release periods of “fall 2011” and “holiday 2011.” The report also reminded us that the game will come with a bundled gold Wii Remote Plus controller to celebrate Zelda‘s 25th anniversary, pictured at left.

Of course, there’s more pointing to this date specifically being the release date. First of all, this date falls smack in the middle of the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend, which means that if a near-simultaneous worldwide release happens (NOTE: almost certain) the game would come out during the Black Friday shopping frenzy, the biggest and most notorious holiday shopping day of the year. What’s more, November 25 is a Friday, and therefore consistent with Europe’s recent release schedule for major titles – Ocarina of Time 3D also launched on a Friday. I imagine that the game would either launch on Thanksgiving or on the usual Sunday here in the States.

This is also consistent with Nintendo’s release pattern for major Zelda games: Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess both launched at around the same time in their respective release years. After their unparalleled success Nintendo will no doubt want to take advantage of that premium launch period again with Skyward Sword.

Source: Live Wii via GoNintendo