Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ‘was delayed by over a year for polish’

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was delayed by over a year after it was already mostly complete.

That’s according to a new interview with series producer Eiji Aonuma, in which he reportedly indicated that Nintendo decided to delay Tears back in March 2022 – to an unspecified ‘2023’ date – purely to polish the game up.

Tears of the Kingdom was supposed to be released in 2022, but Aonuma told The Washington Post he had to announce its delay, “to make sure that everything in the game was 100 percent to our standards”.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom guides:

Master Sword location | How to increase inventory space | How to increase hearts and stamina  | How to get warm clothes | Wingsuit location | Hylian Shield location | Duplication glitch

Many blockbuster video games released since the pandemic have been criticised for their large number of bugs and issues, but Tears of the Kingdom has been generally praised for its release state.

In the same WP interview, Aonuma revealed that a 13-minute Tears of the Kingdom gameplay video published in March was the result of a last-minute decision at Nintendo, when the development team noticed a lack of enthusiasm following a trailer reveal.

“People had not gotten their heads around the gameplay elements or where the fun might be,” Aonuma said. Nintendo decided to feature Aonuma explaining the game’s concepts in a 13-minute demonstration.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released on May 12 and sold 10 million copies worldwide in its first three days, according to Nintendo.

That made it the fastest-selling game in the history of the series and the fastest-selling Nintendo game for any system in Europe and the Americas.

Nintendo said the Zelda franchise has now sold over 130 million units since launching in 1986.