Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi “Don’t Want to Disappoint” as They Look to the Future of the Zelda Series

As more and more year-end interviews with The Legend of Zelda Series Producer Eiji Aonuma and Tears of the Kingdom Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi are published, it’s easy for readers to feel the need to flinch whenever they see a new headline, anticipating the next exciting — or, for a growing number of players, dissapointing — revelation about the series post-Tears of the Kingdom. Following comments by Aonuma questioning why fans of the franchise would want to return to a more traditional Zelda formula, it’s safe to say many Zelda enthusiasts are feeling alienated, particularly when it comes to what they might want for the future of the series.

In one of the many recent interviews conducted by a variety of U.S.-based outlets, Aonuma and Fujibayashi discussed this future with Polygon’s Ana Diaz. The Nintendo Switch is now approaching its seventh birthday after its initial release in 2017. Breath of the Wild was born with one foot stepping out of the Wii U era and the other stepping into the new Switch age as a launch title. Now, although “we don’t have an announcement for a new console yet,” Diaz asked the duo what it’s like saying goodbye to this console. Here, in part, is Aonuma’s answer:

… I’m someone who has worked at Nintendo long enough to have been present during the changing of console generations multiple times… [I]t’s more than a feeling of saying goodbye. It’s a feeling of excitement. It’s about what will be the new things that we’ll be able to do.

When asked what about the future excites him most right now, Aonuma points to “being surrounded by a team of really talented people:”

Getting to work with them and discussing our ideas about the game is something that has been responsible for the continuance of the series. I don’t know what the future holds exactly, but I’m excited about the changes that we’ll be able to accomplish together.

Fujibayashi adds:

The Zelda team is filled with people who love to actually feel the excitement, the joy that players are having when they’re playing their games. And in the world of social media, that feeling of excitement that players are feeding, there’s almost a direct pipeline in that environment to have that direct feed of players’ reactions. That environment exists now. And I think that also really helps support and, again, directly feeds into the motivation we have for trying to figure out what our next step is.

Diaz finishes the interview by asking, “What kinds of values do you hope to embody as you develop future installments of Zelda?” In his answer, Aonuma refers to Fujibayashi’s discussion of motivation being “derived from seeing the joy that people get from playing these games:”

I think we desire to repeat that process, to get that feeling again… That said, it can be intimidating at times, because knowing what the expectations are and having pleased fans in the past, we want to make sure we don’t undercut those expectations. We don’t want to disappoint them… I would say there’s a bit of tension; we keep ourselves motivated and motivated not to disappoint fans, but we also really enjoy… the work of trying to meet fan expectations and please them. And I think we’ve really landed on a good cycle of that now with our recent games, and I’m really looking forward to carrying that kind of process forward as we continue working in the future.

The subject of a Super Mario Maker-style dungeon designer, although unlikely, also came up during a discussion of player creativity during the interview, as well as what Fujibayashi thinks about the “revered” status that the new era of Zelda has earned. To read more, check out Polygon’s full interview.

What do you think of Aonuma and Fujibayashi’s comments on the future of the series in this interview? What do you wish interviewers were asking the Tears of the Kingdom developers about post-Switch Zelda? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Source: Polygon

Kora Burton

Location: Athens, Georgia, USA

Favorite Zeldas: Breath of the Wild, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time

Date Joined: 2022

“Tell me… Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?”