The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Was Almost Ready for Release a Year Ago

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released on May 12, 2023, receiving plenty of praise from both long-time fans and newcomers. Perhaps its success is due to how much effort and time the developers poured into it: in a recent interview with Washington Post, the game's producer Eiji Aonuma confessed that Tears of the Kingdom was almost ready a whole year before it was finally out.

The new Zelda installment was supposed to be launched in 2022 but was delayed in March "to make sure that everything in the game was 100 percent to our standards", said Aonuma. The studio wanted to make the complex physics as polished as possible before the release. 

Aonuma also mentioned a lack of enthusiasm when the second trailer was revealed in February. "People had not gotten their heads around the gameplay elements or where the fun might be," Aonuma said. So Nintendo decided to feature Aonuma explaining Tears of the Kingdom's concepts in a video demonstration, which worked.

Aonuma hopes this new game will inspire people to rethink how they deal with obstacles in the real world. He thinks of his son and his frustration around everyday problems. 

While he admits he is tired and says it now takes him over a week to complete one of his games where it used to be days before, Aonuma doesn't intend to leave his position, so we might see another Zelda game from him soon.

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