Theory on why we have to wait till next year.

[Jedi]

Well besides the upgrade to a console, I think the reason FE Switch is going to be in 2018 is due to Echoes, to see how people react to its various mechanics, and FE Switch will keep in mind the things people really liked about Fates & Echoes, and potentially incorporate those along with some unique new mechanics. 

Because whenever FE jumps a console, it shifts quite drastically in how it works, so I'd expect to see that in one giant mishmash potentially. I'm probably wrong, but hey no harm in thinking about it.

[The Geek]

7 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Well besides the upgrade to a console, I think the reason FE Switch is going to be in 2018 is due to Echoes, to see how people react to its various mechanics, and FE Switch will keep in mind the things people really liked about Fates & Echoes, and potentially incorporate those along with some unique new mechanics. 

Because whenever FE jumps a console, it shifts quite drastically in how it works, so I'd expect to see that in one giant mishmash potentially. I'm probably wrong, but hey no harm in thinking about it.

One year doesn't seem like it'd be a lot of time to make changes that drastic to the game.  Then again, I have no idea how long the development cycle for these games actually is.  When did they start working on Echoes?  When did they start working on FE Switch?  Have they even started yet?

[Florete]

While that's possible, I think it's more just a simple matter of development time and spacing out releases. With Echoes coming out soon and Warriors later this year, they don't want to drop too many too quickly.

[Jedi]

4 minutes ago, The Geek said:

One year doesn't seem like it'd be a lot of time to make changes that drastic to the game.  Then again, I have no idea how long the development cycle for these games actually is.  When did they start working on Echoes?  When did they start working on FE Switch?  Have they even started yet?

Yeah it might not be, but i'm no game developer, thats why I said theory! Haha. 

2 minutes ago, Florete said:

While that's possible, I think it's more just a simple matter of development time and spacing out releases. With Echoes coming out soon and Warriors later this year, they don't want to drop too many too quickly.

This is probably the true reason, but I'd like to think maybe they want to see how Echoes fares too.

[Ycine]

In my opinion, it's mostly to space out the release of game. When we see what the Nintendo Switch is doing at the moment this is most likely the reason. So yeah, I agree 100% with Florete.

But it's not impossible that IS are really tasting the water with FE Echoes. Time will tell.

[The DanMan]

Eh, it's as much a developmental necessity as spacing things out. Fates took 3 years, and FESwitch is on a whole new console-- reason stands that it would take just as long.

I've seen a theory thrown around on the subreddit (which I agree with) that the Codename Steam team is who's working on Echoes' development.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Developers pay attention to the reception of each release, that goes without saying. As a fan whose FE thirst will be more than slaked by Echoes and Warriors, I'd encourage IS to take all the time they need. But this is a valuable time to remind people that Awakening released on the 14th month of the 3DS' lifetime in Japan. So don't get too surprised if this ends up being as early as Q2 or 3 2018 rather than Holiday. We may not have seen a teaser for Switch, but I definitely doubt they began production of the game as late as this year if they were still in a planning stage.

[FoxyGrandpa]

Given that this is the first real HD Fire Emblem Game, Intelligent systems will be forced to make significantly better textures, models, and animations, all of which require a noticable amount of time.

[Dandy Druid]

The only reason I see them wanting to see how Echoes is received is for the dungeon crawling aspects or maybe a fatigue system of some sort. And from what I've seen of the fatigue something, it's not as detrimental as Thracia 776 was.

But by now, I'm guessing they've already mapped out the story and concept. I don't think they'll get rid of the avatar and child mechanic yet, but who knows. It's also possible the children mechanic may be more like FE4 this time around, where the children get their own story and there's a generation gap, and not some time traveling mess. But that generation concept works because of plot devices, so they would have to find some way to not seem like FE4 2.0.