Former Nintendo of America staff members say the sequel that became The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was kept so tightly confidential that many employees learned of it only when Nintendo publicly teased it in its E3 2019 Direct presentation. The account illustrates the unusually strict secrecy surrounding one of Nintendo’s biggest releases and the effort required to prevent its announcement leaking.

Former marketing and PR leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang said the project had a higher level of security than other Nintendo work they handled, with only a small number of people at Nintendo of America aware of it. Ellis said he had to prepare communications material and coordinate work discreetly while his own social-media team remained unaware; Yang said employees reacted enthusiastically to the teaser. Tears of the Kingdom later launched on Switch as the follow-up to Breath of the Wild.