The Legend of Zelda’s dramatic reinvention under Nintendo’s first-party teams helped revive one of the company’s most important franchises.
According to former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, a sense that the series was losing momentum played a key role in the decision to overhaul Zelda’s design with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which launched as a Nintendo Switch and Wii U title on March 3, 2017.
On a recent episode of their podcast about the success of the Ocarina of Time remake, Ellis and Yang described internal concerns about the franchise’s trajectory.
Yang said the series had reached a point she characterized as “dire straits,” with sales levels that had fallen well below expectations.
Ellis recalled attending focus groups and poring over player data that showed declining interest across successive Zelda releases, and he said that evidence convinced Nintendo leadership that the franchise needed a dramatic course correction.
Those changes produced measurable results.
Breath of the Wild became the best-selling game in the franchise following its 2017 launch and helped establish the open-world design and player-first systems that defined the series’ next chapter.
Its direct follow-up, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, released on May 12, 2023 exclusively for Nintendo Switch, is the franchise’s second best-selling title.
Both games are developed by Nintendo’s internal teams and produced under Nintendo’s guidance.
The franchise’s renewed momentum has also benefited other entries on Nintendo platforms.
The Switch remake of Link’s Awakening, released September 20, 2019, and Skyward Sword HD for Nintendo Switch, released July 16, 2021, enjoyed stronger commercial profiles than many of their original releases on legacy hardware.
Ellis and Yang’s firsthand observations add context to Nintendo’s broader strategy: when internal data and audience feedback signaled waning engagement, the company elected to rework core design principles rather than iterate on an established formula.
The gamble paid off in both critical and commercial terms, reshaping the series across Nintendo Switch, the eShop ecosystem, and Nintendo marketing channels such as Nintendo Direct.
As Nintendo continues to support the franchise, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom stand as clear examples of how a major pivot—driven by player research and development ambition—can restore a heritage IP to market leadership.
According to former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, a sense that the series was losing momentum played a key role in the decision to overhaul Zelda’s design with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which launched as a Nintendo Switch and Wii U title on March 3, 2017.
On a recent episode of their podcast about the success of the Ocarina of Time remake, Ellis and Yang described internal concerns about the franchise’s trajectory.
Yang said the series had reached a point she characterized as “dire straits,” with sales levels that had fallen well below expectations.
Ellis recalled attending focus groups and poring over player data that showed declining interest across successive Zelda releases, and he said that evidence convinced Nintendo leadership that the franchise needed a dramatic course correction.
Those changes produced measurable results.
Breath of the Wild became the best-selling game in the franchise following its 2017 launch and helped establish the open-world design and player-first systems that defined the series’ next chapter.
Its direct follow-up, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, released on May 12, 2023 exclusively for Nintendo Switch, is the franchise’s second best-selling title.
Both games are developed by Nintendo’s internal teams and produced under Nintendo’s guidance.
The franchise’s renewed momentum has also benefited other entries on Nintendo platforms.
The Switch remake of Link’s Awakening, released September 20, 2019, and Skyward Sword HD for Nintendo Switch, released July 16, 2021, enjoyed stronger commercial profiles than many of their original releases on legacy hardware.
Ellis and Yang’s firsthand observations add context to Nintendo’s broader strategy: when internal data and audience feedback signaled waning engagement, the company elected to rework core design principles rather than iterate on an established formula.
The gamble paid off in both critical and commercial terms, reshaping the series across Nintendo Switch, the eShop ecosystem, and Nintendo marketing channels such as Nintendo Direct.
As Nintendo continues to support the franchise, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom stand as clear examples of how a major pivot—driven by player research and development ambition—can restore a heritage IP to market leadership.
