The Legend of Zelda was in “dire straits” before Breath of the Wild, ex-Nintendo marketing leads say

Former Nintendo of America marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang say the Zelda series was struggling before Breath of the Wild prompted a major shift towards open-world play. Ellis recalls focus groups and audience data showing that the fan base was shrinking and the games were failing to attract new players, making a dramatic change necessary.

Breath of the Wild has sold 34.28 million copies on Switch, while Tears of the Kingdom has sold 22.9 million. The article says a recent Ocarina of Time remake sold 5.2 million copies in its first four days, suggesting continued demand for traditional Zelda games; other recent releases have also included top-down and 3D titles outside the open-world format.