Nintendo is not saying exactly how it plans to mark The Legend of Zelda’s 40th anniversary this year, but the company is unlikely to let the milestone pass without doing something major. What that will look like is still unclear. The next mainline Zelda game, along with possible remasters and remakes, is not yet firmly set, even as work around the franchise is already moving ahead.
Monolith Soft, the studio entirely owned by Nintendo since 2007, said it is working on Zelda titles and will keep developing games that chase even more “new surprises and emotions.” Daiki Iwamoto said the studio’s role has grown over time, adding that “with each title, [Monolith Soft's] involvement in the creative aspects of development has increased, which I find very encouraging.”
That matters because Monolith Soft has become one of Nintendo’s most important development partners on the series, and its comments suggest the next wave of Zelda projects is already taking shape behind the scenes. The company is also organizing studios ahead of production on more Zelda games, while rumors continue to swirl about the next mainline entry and possible remasters and remakes. The upcoming movie adaptation of The Legend of Zelda adds another layer to a year already loaded with franchise attention.
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Yasuhiro Fujita said the Zelda team at Monolith Soft is still early in its development, describing it as a group that is “still in its developmental stages” and saying, “we feel like we're all building the game together, and also building the team together. I want to be able to take on even more diverse responsibilities.”
For now, the clearest answer is that Nintendo is not treating the anniversary as a quiet calendar marker. A new Zelda game has not been announced, and no firm roadmap has been locked in, but the studio comments point to a company preparing something bigger than routine maintenance for one of its most valuable series.
