The gaming industry is not a simple one, no matter how it may seem on the outside. Behind just one video game release is often an entire team of developers, with tens if not hundreds of workers, and behind them is a publisher, with another hundred or so workers packed inside. Abig AAA gamecan often have hundreds if not thousands of moving parts, and no matter how talented each team member is, getting all those gears to gel is no easy task. But somehow,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhas managed to make it work.
Over the last few weeks, discussions surrounding the state of modern video game releases have become much louder. Gamers across the world are unhappy that modern-day AAA titles can launch in an unfinished, sometimes even broken state, and still charge a full $70 for the luxury of experiencing it. With such discussions taking over the industry recently,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis the perfect proof that sometimes it’s necessary to delay a game.
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Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Proves That Delays Are Usually for the Best
Development onThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdombegan almost as soon asBreath of the Wildreleased in 2017.Tears of the Kingdomwas officially announced, then only known as the “sequel toBreath of the Wild,” in 2019. In 2021, the first gameplay trailer forZelda: Tears of the Kingdomwas shown, along with a tentative release window of 2022. Nintendo soon provided an update onTears of the Kingdompushing it to 2023. WhileTears of the Kingdomwas technically only ever officially delayed once, it did spend six years in development, most of which without a slated release date, which is essentially the same thing.
But now thatThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis finally out, it seems safe to say that its lengthy six-year development cycle was more than worth the wait. For the most part,Tears of the Kingdomis an improvement and expansion on its predecessor in almost every way, bringing a plethora of new mechanics to the game that more than justify its existence. Additionally,Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomperforms surprisingly well on the Nintendo Switch, despite its now extremely outdated hardware. It’s clear that a lot of time and effort went into optimizingTears of the Kingdomfor the Switch, and that effort pays off massively. Though it may drop a few frames every now and then,Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomperforms better on the Switch than it has any right to.
IfThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomshould influence the gaming industry in one way, it should act as proof that it’s more than okay to delay a game. In the last few weeks, bothRedfallandStar Wars Jedi: Survivorhave garnered no shortage of well-deserved criticism. The two games, both of which are big AAA, $70 releases, perform absolutely horrendously on not just PC, but consoles as well. While the PC crowd is unfortunately used to shoddy performance on release day, those same issues rarely plague console ports. But in the case ofRedfallandJedi: Survivor, poor framerates, screen-tearing, texture pop-in, and hard crashes are common occurrences across all platforms.
One of the most famous quotes from the gaming industry is that “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” While thisquote might not actually be from Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, the message is still extremely relevant.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomtook its time and wasn’t afraid to keep its fans waiting, and as a result, it’s a well-polished, critically-acclaimed game. WhileStar Wars Jedi: Survivoris another great 2023 release, its poor performance has greatly affected its reception, and with just a few more months of development time that could have been avoided.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis available now on Switch.
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