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With its vast sky, surface, and underground kingdoms, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom stunned both critics and fans when it was released earlier this year. After selling 18 million copies in just two months, the game became the jewel in Nintendo‘s lineup and was even tipped to win Game of the Year.
It looks like Nintendo is ready to move on from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom already.
Given those figures, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to anticipate aDLCor two—a strategy Nintendo employed with Breath of the Wild, its predecessor, which saw two sizable expansion packs. But in a recent interview with Famitsu, game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and longtime Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma dashed these hopes.
Aonuma informed Famitsu that he has “done everything” in this iteration of Hyrule, a sizable universe constructed both on top of and beneath the original “Breath of the Wild” terrain. Especially, he and Fujibayashi designed a huge subterranean world that they had first kept secret before to the game’s launch. They made significant efforts to guarantee that players could traverse between the sky islands and the maze-like underworld with ease—a feature that was hidden in pre-release advertising.
There will be no DLC for The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom!
“We have no plans to release additional content this time, but that is because we feel like we have done all we can do to create play in that world” – Zelda TOTK Producer, Eiji Aonumahttps://t.co/1SmvIwPl21“>https://t.co/1SmvIwPl21 pic.twitter.com/Xxxowea2AS
Genki (@Genki_JPN) September 6, 2023
Based on the data, it appears that Tears of the Kingdom could literally print money with an expansion; another billion dollars are probably just waiting to be taken advantage of by a devoted fan base. Nintendo, though, seems unwavering in its choice. Aonuma clarified, “I feel like we’ve done everything we can to create fun in that world.” In agreement, Fujibayashi revealed that he is already focusing his creative energies on “the next fun experience.”
The creators of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom don’t specifically rule out a return to Hyrule. They might return to this version of Hyrule if “new reasons arise,” but it’s more probable that it will take the form of a completely new game with distinct gameplay elements. This appears to be in line with the Nintendo Switch‘s lifecycle, which is about to come to a conclusion with a successor that is anticipated in 2024 and is said to perform on par with the PS5. The emphasis for whatever follows will be on a completely “new experience,” which could signal a fresh development for the Zelda series.
Fans are conjecturing that Tears of the Kingdom will get a new “Master Mode” or other challenging tasks in the interim, akin to what Breath of the Wild got after launch.
Unfortunately, it appears unlikely that an expansion is taking place based on Aonuma’s most recent remarks. This new approach differs from their previous one, in which Breath of the Wild included a large amount of post-launch DLC that broadened the game’s universe and story, such as The Master Trials and The Champions’ Ballad.
In the overall scheme of things, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s record-breaking 20.61 million sales in just six weeks makes Tears of the Kingdom the second-biggest Nintendo launch ever. It’s the Nintendo game that sells the fastest in both the Americas and Europe, and as the holidays draw near, sales are predicted to increase. However, Nintendo’s vision for this game is finished, and instead of squandering it for more, the creators are laying a claim on uncharted ground and piqueing fans’ interest in what might come next.
Aonuma and his group seem to embrace the enormous expectations to accomplish “even more amazing” things in the next journey, even if they never return to this Hyrule. Therefore, even if some may view the lack of DLC as a wasted opportunity, it may potentially be a liberating time for a franchise that never hesitates to redefine itself.