Zelda was in dire straits before Breath of the Wild, say ex-Nintendo staff

What Kit and Krysta said

Former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have described a difficult period for The Legend of Zelda before the release of Breath of the Wild. According to Nintendo Life, the pair spoke about the topic on a recent episode of their podcast.

Ellis responded to what he called revisionist history suggesting the Zelda team removed the traditional format at the height of its popularity. He said the reality was very different, pointing to feedback from focus groups he attended.

Yang was more direct. She said the series was in dire straits and selling like nothing, and described the mood at the time as depressing. She added that the feeling internally was that Nintendo was losing the series.

The decline of the traditional formula

The later games built on the traditional Zelda formula, such as Skyward Sword, were generally well received by critics. The problem was commercial rather than critical, as the familiar gameplay did not translate into strong sales.

Nintendo Life reports that these games were also struggling to attract new players. Focus group feedback, as recalled by Ellis, included comments that the fanbase was dwindling and that interest in the series was getting smaller.

This context matters now because Ocarina of Time, often seen as the most typical example of the classic Zelda structure, has recently returned to public attention. Some fans have questioned why the traditional format has been absent for so long.

How Breath of the Wild changed things

Breath of the Wild reinvented the series as an open-world game, a format Nintendo later continued with Tears of the Kingdom. The change gave Zelda the boost in interest it needed, according to Nintendo Life.

The success of the open-world games makes it easy to forget how uncertain the series once looked, particularly for fans who were not following it closely at the time. Today, Zelda is one of Nintendo's most prominent franchises.

Both formats are now available on Switch 2, with the open-world entries and classic-style games playable on the console.

What it means for the next Zelda game

Nintendo Life suggests that the warm reception for the return of the classic format with Ocarina of Time could hint at a more traditional approach in a future mainline entry. The site notes that a dream scenario would leave room for both formats to develop.

There is no confirmed information about the direction of the next mainline Zelda game. Nintendo Life says it is far too early to know what the team is working on, so any such speculation remains unconfirmed.

For now, the account from Ellis and Yang offers a reminder that the shift to open-world design was a response to real commercial pressure, not a rejection of a format at its peak.