The game was originally announced in January 2013. The build at E3 looked pretty far along. Nintendo is plenty capable of releasing games in a timely manner--look at 3DW or LBW last year, for example. Also, DK: TF was announced June 2013 and released February 2014. They've become much better about announcing them closer to release, in fact, than they used to. (Holding onto hope here, Yoshi, Kirby and Toad are my most anticipated games!)
Whereas this is the kind of thing I'm just more pessimistic about. I just don't see fifty thousand people among the Wii U's limited audience, for example, grabbing this game in the first month. I could be totally wrong about this. W101's mega-bomba just really curbed my expectations further, and this game has a "2" in the title, so casual players may not realize they'll be able to play the first game along with this one. Plus, say what you will about W101's demo putting off potential buyers, but it's also possible that demo gave the game much better exposure than it might have had otherwise. I dunno. I don't like to be pessimistic about *anything* Nintendo (that's a shock, right?). I just am wary of this game doing very well in sales. OTOH, I think even W101 will out-perform Devil's Third, at least in the West, by a considerable margin.