Former Nintendo Marketers Say Zelda Was in "Dire Straits" Before Breath of the Wild

Two former Nintendo marketing staff say The Legend of Zelda series was in "dire straits" before Breath of the Wild brought it back.

Kit Ellis, who was Nintendo of America's director of social media marketing, and Krysta Yang, a former public relations manager at Nintendo, made the comments in a report published on 13 November 2026 by Eurogamer. Zelda is Nintendo's long-running adventure series, built around the hero Link and the princess Zelda.

According to Ellis, focus group feedback on the series showed that its fan base was dwindling and not bringing in new players. He said interest from the Zelda audience was getting smaller with each new entry. Yang put it more bluntly, saying the series was selling "like, nothing" before Breath of the Wild arrived.

The figures reported alongside those comments show a steep climb. Twilight Princess sold roughly 8 million copies, and Skyward Sword sold roughly 3 million. Breath of the Wild, an open-world game where players roam a large map at their own pace, sold 34 million copies.

The contrast is the core of the story. A series that had shrinking audience interest, by these accounts, later became one of the best-selling entries in Nintendo's catalogue.

For players, the account offers a look at how a franchise's standing can shift in a few years. For people who work in games, it is a reminder that a series' sales history can look very different depending on which entry you count. Nintendo has not, in the material reported, responded to the comments.