Summary
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomand its predecessor,Breath of the Wild, are undoubtedly two of the Nintendo Switch’s most successful games.Breath of the Wildreinvented the franchise by approaching the world ofZeldafrom an entirely different standpoint and creating an open world that quickly established a new industry standard.Tears of the Kingdomthen upped the ante by expandingBreath of the Wild’s open world even further and implementing a variety of innovative tools likeLink’s Ultrahand ability, which arguably set a new precedent for creativity in the open-world and action-adventure genres.
Despite all that it andBreath of the Wildhave accomplished on the Nintendo Switch,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis most likely the franchise’s last game on the console. While it was originally rumored to launch in late 2024, new reports suggest the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be released until early 2025. Even with the delay, however, there is still very little time between now and then for Nintendo to do anything else with theLegend of Zeldaseries on the Switch, especially if the developer has other highly anticipated games likeMetroid Prime 4already lined up for release.
Tears of the Kingdom Is Most Likely the Franchise’s Last Switch Game
Nintendo is currently quiet about its plans for theLegend of Zeldafranchise, despite having already made it known thatTears of the Kingdomwill be receiving no DLC expansions. This, as well as the Switch 2’s alleged impending release, suggests the series' time on the Nintendo Switch has come to an end. Still,The Legend of Zeldais far from its retirement.
The Legend of Zeldahas been following a regular five-to-six-year release pattern sinceMajora’s Maskwas released in 2000.
There was a six-year gap betweenBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom, which were released in 2017 and 2023, respectively. BeforeBreath of the WildcameSkyward Sword, which launched on the Nintendo Wii six years prior in 2011. If Nintendo follows that pattern, theLegend of Zeldaseries may not see its next major installment until well into the Switch 2’s lifespan — specifically, somewhere between 2028 and 2029. However, that may be a good thing, as it would likely mean that Nintendo is taking full advantage of its new hardware, whatever it ends up being.
None of this is to say that fans won’t see anyLegend of Zeldatitles released before the next mainline installment, as Nintendo undoubtedly knows it would be leaving money on the table by completely abandoning the franchise for the next several years. There have been constant rumors surrounding potentialWind WakerandTwilight Princessports coming to the Switchin the near future.
Both titles are beloved and despite their poorly received HD versions released in 2013 and 2016 for the Wii U, a full remaster of each game for the Switch would likely garner a more positive reception. However, as there has been no confirmation of these rumored remasters, it will likely be 2025 before the ports are released if they are indeed legitimate. In that case, they would come with the Switch 2. Unfortunately,Tears of the Kingdomis likely the franchise’s last Switch game, but that is probably for the best.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
