Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has revealed that the one-year delay given to Tears of the Kingdom in March 2022 was just to apply polish and that the game was otherwise complete.
Since its launch on May 12, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been a massive hit. It has secured an exceptional 95 on Metacritic with reviews universally praising the open-world action game.
Its release was highly anticipated with it being one of the biggest Switch exclusives and releases of 2023.
The hype for Zelda was only amplified when Nintendo announced a delay in March 2022, but the reasoning for the delay wasn’t quite what fans may have expected.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom delay was used to apply polish
Speaking to The Washington Post, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that the lengthy delay given to Tears of the Kingdom was strictly used to apply polish.
During the interview, Aonuma stated that the new Zelda was “pretty much complete,” by March 2022 but he felt a delay was necessary.
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Reflecting on the delay Aonuma justified it believing it was used “to make sure that everything in the game was 100 percent to our standards.”
A follow-up tweet later elaborated that this polish was primarily focused on the “wild physics,” of Tears of the Kingdom.
Eiji Aonuma said when he announced in March 2022 a delay for Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, the game was pretty much complete. The last year was spent on polish, making sure the wild physics of the game just work. https://t.co/jb2qlonWsO
— Gene Park (@GenePark) May 21, 2023
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom utilizes a complex physics engine that works in unison with its building mechanics. Players can create all sorts of vehicles and buildings using various parts from bikes to hovercrafts to mechs.
Despite the complexity of its building, Zelda players haven’t experienced many bugs. The general consensus amongst its community is that Tears of the Kingdom is a well-made game that performs well in spite of the aged hardware it runs on.
This is in contrast to some other big-budget games that launched with a myriad of performance issues and bugs. Some examples include Redfall, The Last of Us Part I, and Wild Hearts.