Nintendo and Koei Tecmo explain how Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment came to be

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment producers Yosuke Hayashi and Ryota Matsushita recently spoke about the origins of the game, explaining how it came to be.

Rather than Nintendo approaching Koei Tecmo, it was actually the other way around. Hayashi and Matsushita both felt that the Imprisoning War would make be a good fit for a Warriors title. Nintendo had its own interest in making it happen, with Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi wanting to make something happen, but Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma wanted Koei Tecmo to reach out.

Hayashi, Matsushita, and Aonuma said the following in a 4Gamer interview:

Hayashi: We all eagerly awaited the release of Tears of the Kingdom – I personally played the weekend immediately following its release. I felt like the game was sending us a message of something like “Make a Warriors game set in the time of the Imprisoning War!” After the weekend I spoke to Matsushita saying, “Let’s make it!” and we drew up a plan.

Matsushita: In truth, I had also actually been putting a plan together before he spoke to me (laughs). I felt like the ‘seeds’ of a Warriors game were scattered all over the place.

Aonuma: On the Nintendo side, during Tears of the Kingdom’s development, Fujibayashi established in detail exactly what the Imprisoning War was. And after it was finished, he said to me, “Maybe we could ask Koei Tecmo this time too?”, but I responded with “No, let’s wait to hear from Koei Tecmo first” (laughs). It was almost immediately after that that they contacted us.

On the topic of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo recently spoke about why it kept the Imprisoning War Sages a mystery in that game. Read about that here.

Translation provided by SatsumaFS and Simon Griffin on behalf of Nintendo Everything.