Zelda producer on how much Nintendo considers the timeline

Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma, who has served as the director on Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, has shared general thoughts about the Zelda timeline and how much Nintendo thinks about it.

The timeline has long been a topic of discussion for fans, but there have been times when Nintendo has been coy about it. When asked by Game Informer how much consideration and importance Nintendo gives it, Fujibayashi said it’s “something that the development team recognizes and it considers, but to an extent.” This is because focusing on it way much can put restraints on creativity.

Fujibayashi shared the following:

“As you mentioned, we realized that fans have a great time theorizing and enjoy thinking about where things fit on the timeline. That’s something that the development team recognizes and it considers, but to an extent. And I say, ‘to an extent’ because if we get too into the weeds or too detailed in that placement, it results in kind of creating restraints for our creativity; the process of creating new ideas becomes restricted because we’re so tied up and trying to make this fit into a very specific spot in the timeline. We do consider it, but not to an extent where we feel that our development process feels restricted or constrained.”

Zelda producer Aonuma was asked about this as well. That led him to share the following:

“Another point kind of related to this is that as we’ve been able to realize more fully a real, working world because of technology, you are also able to fine-tune all the details of that world. But, we don’t always want to do that just because we now can. Instead, as people play the game, we want to give them the ability to exist in that world and a world that they can interpret in their own way. And, so, that’s also something that we really keep in mind as we’re continuing to develop games.”

Fujibayashi was asked about the placement of Tears of the Kingdom in the Zelda timeline a few months ago. You can read his comments here.