The Legend of Zelda Series Was in ‘Dire Straits’ Before Breath of the Wild, Former Nintendo Marketing Leads SayShield up.
Updated
: Nov 13, 2026 2:48pm UTC
The Zelda series was in “dire straits” before Breath of the Wild, with a dwindling playerbase and low sales, according to former Nintendo marketing leads.
Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, who both worked at Nintendo for over a decade, made the claims on the latest episode of their podcast (as spotted by GamesRadar+). They refuted the idea that Breath of the Wild ruined the Zelda series with its new formula, and instead argued that it actually saved the franchise from a loss of relevance.
It comes as part of a discussion about “new Zelda” versus “old Zelda” — or essentially, the dungeon format versus a complete open world. While there is clearly a demand for the older Zelda games, as evidenced by the hugely successful Ocarina of Time remake, the pair say there is a good reason why Nintendo took them away from us in the first place.
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“There has been some revisionist history out there lately,
