Exactly what I was thinking! It really is their biggest game this holiday, and now there isn't really anything standing in its way. I hope Nintendo utilizes this chance. This series could very easily become the next Fire Emblem for Nintendo.

Did you mean to put the "(except Japan)" after SMTxFE? I don't think Mario Tennis will be delayed in any region.

And don't forget Pokken Tournament!

Absolutely 100% this^^^

GameXplain just uploaded a video regarding the delay (Seriously, it's like they never sleep!!)

And I saw some comments referring to how, with this delay, Xenoblade stands alone as the Wii U's big holiday title and that they thought it wasn't a good thing. THey pretty much didn't have any confidence in Xenoblade doing big in the holiday season, do to it's niche nature.

So I chimed in and said, "Hey. At the beginning of the year, nobody outside of Nintendo fan forums knew what Splatoon was. And then A+ level marketing happened. Now Splatoon has become Nintendo's newest blockbuster franchise and selling extremely well! If they give the same marketing treatment and effort for Xenoblade as they did Splatoon, I don't see why it can't achieve the same fate. It's got the amazing quality to back it up, and with the marketing there, new players will come in, new players will love it, word will spread, and BOOM!"

It's got more going for it than the original Xenoblade did.
For 1) It's not a retailer exclusive.
And 2) It's releasing in the holiday season.
But like you said, it needs big time marketing!

Oops, I thought it was 2016. Hahaha.
Yeah, what you said. XD

And it could very easily be the big time console RPG franchise for Nintendo. (Although I'm 100% confident that Pokemon could fill that role if they did a console Pokemon RPG, but that's a story for another topic.)
RPGs is the one genre the Wii U is desperately lacking in, and it's funny since the RPG genre is the 3DS' specialty.
So they need to find a way to get that audience over to their consoles as well.
Xenoblade becoming their next big time blockbuster franchise would be a perfect step in the right direction.
But Ninteno has to treat it with the same attention and give it the same level of marketing as they did with Splatoon, Mario Maker, and what they'll eventually do with Zelda.
The facts that it's no longer retailer exclusive and it's releasing in the holiday season certainly works in its favor.
Another step in the right direction would be to bundle it like they did in Japan.

Needs to be delayed till 2018 to make it look appealing.

L.M.F.A.O.

Oh and price cut. For the love of all sanity price cut. They now have no excuse to try and ride this $300 price any more. $50 price cut, market that MK8+DLC bundle at that price, and have either a MM or Splatoon bundle as well that they advertise throughout November. Plus start marketing XCX as early as mid November when people are paying attention.

Please tell me this isn´t true T-T

It is.