Now that Nintendo has officially delayed the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel to 2023, the console manufacturer's holiday slate is looking pretty slim. So far, only Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are confirmed for a release later this year.

This leaves the field wide open for Nintendo to drop another big title to come out in tandem with the upcoming mainline Pokemon game, and some believe that Nintendo is preparing to fill in the slot with Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

Sparks of Hope is a sequel to 2017's Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, an entertaining turn-based strategy title that was developed by Ubisoft in collaboration with Nintendo.

The two company's second joint outing was first confirmed at E3 2021 and still doesn't have a release date. However, Nate the Hate claimed in a recent podcast that the Nintendo Switch exclusive is coming in late 2022.

The timeline of the potential launch for Sparks of Hope makes sense when you consider that Nintendo has nothing big planned for the holiday season yet outside of the next-gen Pokemon titles. Then again, the Japanese video game company tends to play its cards close to its chest, so we won't know what its plans are for later this year unless we're close to the actual date. The good news is that Nintendo is consistent when it comes to its video game showcases.

After a successful event earlier this year that saw the announcements of the Switch ports for Portal and No Man's Sky as well as the aforementioned Pokemon titles, among others, fans can look forward to another Nintendo Direct that will reveal Nintendo's plans for the latter half of 2022.

Hopefully, by then, we'll find out more if Sparks of Hope is indeed coming out this year or not.

Speaking of Ubisoft, the French publisher is currently working on a bespoke mobile version of Rainbow Six Siege, Rainbow Six Mobile. The upcoming tactical shooter currently does not have a release date, but most are expecting it to come out later this year. Ubisoft is also reportedly looking to hold a massive game's showcase in mid-2022. Meanwhile, JRPG fans can look forward to the remaster of Chrono Cross, which hit store shelves today, April 7.