Don’t expect the expansive sky, surface, and subterranean settings of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule to grow any further. Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma says in a new interview that the development team behind Breath of the Wild and its expanded open-world sequel has no plans to release new content for the latest Zelda game.
In that interview, with Japanese gaming publication Famitsu, Aonuma and Tears of the Kingdom game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi discuss the future of Zelda and their most recent work. Aonuma tells Famitsu that he feels like he’s done everything to create fun in the world of Tears of the Kingdom, and that he and Fujibayashi are looking for the “next fun experience.” Aonuma and Fujibayashi certainly don’t rule out returning to Hyrule again for an all-new adventure, but both imply that whether it’s a direct sequel or a brand-new Zelda game, it will focus on new gameplay mechanics.
Polygon has reached out to Nintendo of America for confirmation on Aonuma’s comments, which were originally in Japanese.
The Legend of Zelda development team moving on to a new project makes sense, given the already massive scope of Tears of the Kingdom — and that the current Nintendo Switch appears to be nearing the end of its lifecycle. Nintendo’s current-generation console will turn seven years old next March, and the company is reportedly planning on shipping a Switch successor in the second half of 2024.
But if Nintendo truly has no plans to add more content to Tears of the Kingdom, it will be a deviation from its post-release plans for Breath of the Wild. That title, a Switch launch game, received a two-part expansion pass that contained the The Master Trials and The Champions’ Ballad DLC packs. It also means that Tears of the Kingdom players will never get back those two missing hearts they started out with in Link’s latest adventure.