The Legend of Zelda Games In 2024 Should Have You Worried

Dec. 25, 2023, 1 p.m.

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The Legend of Zelda Games In 2024 Should Have You Worried

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Summary The Zelda series has met with a lot of success recently, but there's little news about what's next.

2024 could be the first year in recent memory without a Zelda release, breaking a trend of almost yearly releases that has characterized the franchise in recent years.

Rumors suggest that The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess remasters could be released for the Switch in 2024. The focus on a live-action movie adaptation may also be delaying the next Zelda game's development.

The current state of The Legend of Zelda series is concerning, to say the least. In recent years, the franchise has seen one hit after another. From the genre-defining success of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, to classic remakes and remasters like Skyward Sword and Link's Awakening on the Switch, to new concepts and spin-offs that take the series in a totally different direction, it's safe to say that The Legend of Zelda is as lively, popular, and interesting as it's ever been.

But what's on the horizon? Whatever the future of the franchise is, its next steps are questionable at best. New developments in the Zelda series, or the lack thereof, are worrying. And what little news there is doesn't serve to inspire much confidence. 2024 may be looking a little dry for the Zelda franchise, but it may also be just one facet of an off year for the Nintendo Switch platform at large.

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There Are No Zelda Games Planned For 2024

Nintendo's Longtime Fantasy Series Appears To Be On Hiatus

At the time of writing, there are no Zelda games planned for release or announced to be in development for 2024. That's concerning for the future of the franchise, which may have been put on the back burner for the time being. While the success stories of BOTW and TOTK mean that there's almost certainly more Zelda planned for the future, it could be a while until any major news is released - let alone a new game in the series. And for the time being, it seems like no one even knows what the next Zelda game will look like.

2024 Could Be The First Year In Recent Memory With No Zelda Releases

From Ocarina Of Time To BOTW, There's Been A New Zelda Almost Every Year

Almost every single one of the last few years has seen at least one kind of Zelda release or another, making a Zelda-less 2024 the outlier. 2017 had BOTW, 2019 had the Link's Awakening remake, 2020 had Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, 2021 had Skyward Sword HD, 2022 had Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask via Nintendo Switch Online's Nintendo 64 catalog, and 2023 had TOTK. If no new game is announced, 2024 could be the first year without a Zelda in half a decade.

Hyrule Warrios: Age of Calamity is a spin-off developed by Dynasty Warriors studio Omega Force, a division of Koei Tecmo. Although it is a prequel to BOTW, it is generally not considered canon alongside the mainline Zelda games.

That's made worse by the fact that each of these games was a critical and commercial success. It's not that there's no new Zelda game planned for 2024 because the franchise is on its last legs financially - something more complicated is going on here. There are many potential reasons why no new Zelda games have been announced, and none of them are comforting.

The Only Game Zelda News Is A Rumored Remaster

Could Wind Waker & Twilight Princess Come To Switch In 2024?

Rumors around Switch ports for The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess have been ever-present, and those two remasters could be what Nintendo has planned for Zelda in 2024. The two games, which were first released for the GameCube in 2002 and GameCube and Wii in 2006 respectively, have long seemed the perfect candidates for remaster. They embody the classic Zelda style, but each has a unique twist: seafaring exploration in Wind Waker, and Link transforming into a wolf in Twilight Princess. Owing to their refined gameplay and distinct art styles, they hold up well, even 20-plus years later.

But neither is playable on current-gen platforms. Only those who own the platforms on which they were first released can play the original versions. There are also HD versions of both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess on the Wii U, but the Wii U sold poorly even in its heyday, and the recent eShop shutdown means these games are harder to get a hold of than ever before. They'd make perfect sense as HD ports for the Switch, or as flagship games for a new GameCube section of NSO.

But at present, there's nothing to confirm that might happen, besides the same flimsy evidence that Nintendo has been planning these remasters since 2021. They would've made more sense back then, when they could've been part of a 35th anniversary collection. In 2024, there's even less reason to hope for a Wind Waker and Twilight Princess re-release.

The Next Major Zelda Release Could Be The Live-Action Movie

Nintendo's Second Big Film Adaptation After The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Of course, Nintendo could be saving Zelda news for when there's more to say about the live-action movie. Announced in November 2023, there are few details available about the Zelda movie, but it's known to be in development with a director and producer signed on. This naturally comes on the heels of The Super Mario Bros. Movie's success, which surpassed Warcraft as the highest-grossing video game movie of all time only a week after its release.

Related Legend Of Zelda Movie Director Addresses Whether Main Character Link Will Talk Director Wes Ball comments on whether Link will talk in his upcoming live-action adaptation of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda video game franchise.

That could mean similar timing for the next Zelda game. The Mario series timed its most recent major release, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, just a few months after the movie adaptation cleaned up at the box office. It's only sensible: the game and the movie can promote each other, creating an unstoppable marketing machine. Nintendo might be planning to release the next Zelda game shortly after the movie comes out in a similar strategy. That's all well and good, but at this point, the movie is probably still in the earliest stages of pre-production, and both could be several years away from release.

The Zelda Franchise Could Be Taking A Backseat

Nintendo May Be Focusing On Its Other Properties

Zelda may also simply be sitting on the back burner while Nintendo turns an eye to some of its other flagship properties. The Mario series' success has been unavoidable: between the movie adaptation, Mario Wonder, the Super Mario RPG remake, and the well-received Princess Peach: Showtime, the franchise is getting a lot of love. New content is still being developed for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the long-awaited Pikmin 4 renewed interest in that series. Even less expected revivals, like F-Zero 99, have made waves in 2023, so it's possible Nintendo is clearing out its backlogs before tackling the next Zelda game.

Details for the next Zelda game are likely being ironed out.

The Super Mario franchise's prolific output isn't necessarily surprising, nor is it out of the ordinary. The overall-clad plumber is by far Nintendo's most recognizable mascot, even compared to Link and Princess Zelda, and Super Mario has long been more prone to spin-off games. Comparatively, The Legend of Zelda tends to stick to watershed releases, lying dormant until a new title at least partially reshapes the series' identity. Following the monumental undertaking of Tears of the Kingdom's development (even with all it borrowed from BOTW), details for the next Zelda game are likely being ironed out, even if Nintendo's focus at large is shifting to other IPs.

Nintendo May Have Run Out Of Ideas For The Legend Of Zelda

The Series Is Constantly Reinventing Itself

The lack of TOTK DLC suggests that no one really knows what to do next with Zelda, or at least how to further evolve the formula laid down by BOTW. Whatever comes next will have to be a major reinvention. BOTW and TOTK together tell a complete story, and there's little need for a third game to continue in the exact same vein. As is, Zelda games rarely ever receive direct sequels. Only one game in the series has inspired a whole trilogy: Wind Waker had two sequels in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

So, while the next Zelda game may borrow heavily from the BOTW formula, it's very unlikely that it'll be a direct sequel. That means a new art style, new map, new story, new characters, new mechanics, et cetera – a whole new kind of Zelda game, built from the ground up. Inevitably, all that means more development time, which could mean the next Zelda is a long way away, especially if the games continue to grow in ambition.

A New Zelda Game May Not Release Until After The Switch 2 Launches

Nintendo's Next Console Is On The Way

The timeline is also convenient for the next Zelda game to release on Nintendo's Switch successor, colloquially known as the Switch 2, prior to its actual name being revealed. Following a near-constant flurry of rumors, Nintendo finally acknowledged the Switch 2 officially in May 2024, confirming that the console will be released within the fiscal year (i.e. by the end of March 2025). The announcement also came with confirmation of a Nintendo Direct in June 2024, though the new hardware will not be revealed at that presentation.

The Nintendo Direct in June might be the last opportunity to learn if one final Zelda game is coming to the Switch.

The next Zelda might have to wait until after the new hardware is officially unveiled. With how well BOTW and TOTK advertised the current version, there will almost certainly be a Zelda game on the Switch 2. However, that might mean the next Zelda is strictly under wraps until after the new console is revealed. After TOTK's success, a new Zelda would certainly be classified as a system seller, but other long-awaited Nintendo exclusives seem much more likely for the Switch 2's launch window, such as a 3D platforming successor to Super Mario Odyssey or Metroid Prime 4, which has had a notoriously long development.

Accompanying confirmation of the Nintendo Direct in June might be the last opportunity to learn if one final Zelda game is coming to the Switch in 2024. The most likely candidate would once again be the HD remasters of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The Switch's swan song is already set to include remakes and remasters in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. Finally porting WW and TP could save development for brand-new titles while also giving the Switch a nice send-off. Plus, if the Switch 2's backward compatibility rumors prove to be true, they'd make nice carryover titles for early adopters.

So what's next for the Zelda franchise? It's hard to say at this point. With how successful the past few games have been, and how influential the series has been throughout the medium's existence, it's definitely far from over. However, there doesn't seem to be a new game in the works right now, nor do there appear to be any major releases planned for 2024. There are many reasons why this could be the case, but it's impossible to point to any one definite cause. For the time being, fans will just have to wait and see what The Legend of Zelda has in store.