Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Collectors Edition has been ‘delayed’

The Collector’s Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will not be released in July alongside the game itself.

Nintendo announced last month that the Switch RPG sequel, which was originally planned for a September release, had been moved forward to July 29.

However, it now appears that the Collector’s Edition, which comes with other physical items, will not be brought forward to July alongside it, effectively ‘delaying’ it.

As spotted by Twitter user @XenobladeRAlpha, a message on Nintendo’s official UK online store states that players who buy the Collector’s Edition will only receive the game on July 29, with the other items to follow at a later date.

“If you reserve the Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Collector’s Edition, you will receive the packaged Xenoblade Chronicles 3 game software when it launches on July 29th,” the notice reads.

“The additional contents of the Collector’s Edition (Nintendo Switch SteelBook case, softcover concept art book and outer box packaging) will be delivered separately at a later date (expected delivery timing: autumn 2022). All items will be shipped with free delivery.”

The US Nintendo website doesn’t have this message yet, but it does paint a similar picture regardless: the standard edition of the game has a July 29 release date, but the Special Edition (as it’s known there) simply says “releasing in TBD”.

According to Nintendo, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will feature a story that ties together the futures of the worlds depicted in Xenoblade Chronicles and its sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

“A vast world awaits in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the next game in the acclaimed RPG series from developer Monolith Soft,” Nintendo said in a press release in February.

“Players will step into the roles of protagonists Noah and Mio amid turmoil between the hostile nations of Keves and Agnus.

“Six characters hailing from those nations will take part in a grand tale with ‘life’ as its central theme.”

In recent years, Nintendo-owned Monolith Soft has contributed to the creation of not just the Xenoblade series, but also to first-party titles Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.