The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild looks to be the first Zelda game to have open world elements but Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s Creative Fellow, spoke with IGN at E3 2016 about the upcoming title and why it’s not considered an open world game.
“I think within the game industry or the tech industry, there’s a tendency to want to name everything,” Miyamoto told IGN. “But I think it’s important for what we do that we don’t want to be dependent or swayed by the technology and what’s available now.”
Miyamoto first spoke about Breath of the Wild not being an open world game back in 2014, during an investor’s meeting. In the interview, he elaborated about how Nintendo wanted Zelda to be more than just a game where a “player is able to do anything” but also be a form of entertainment.
In fact, Miyamoto and the Nintendo team came up with the term “Open Air” to describe Breath of the Wild. It’s a term that Nintendo Senior Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen apparently uses a lot.
Trinen elaborated on the idea of “Open Air” as a term to describe the art, gameplay, music and feel of the new Zelda game.
“I look at this game and I see a world that is fully integrated into the exploration and the adventure. It’s not just a world that you’re passing through. It’s sort of a world that you’re a part of. So much of the adventure and exploration is in this outdoor space, and the theme of wilderness collectively seemed like 'Open Air' was the right fit for it.”
Nintendo showed off Breath of the Wild at E3 2016 and it blew pretty much everyone away -- including us -- but with only about one percent of the game available to play on the showfloor, there is still a lot to discover about the title.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is set to release in 2017.
So what do you think of Breath of the Wild not being considered an open world game? Sound off in the comments section below.
