The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi says future games in the series shouldn't rely on reheating Breath of the Wild or Ocarina of Time's ideas.
Speaking to Polygon, Fujibayashi – who served as director of Capcom's Oracle games and The Minish Cap, before joining Nintendo where he would go on to develop Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom – explained why Zelda games are often reinventing the series. "These are all ideas or nuggets of ideas that developers at that time feel like, 'okay, this is going to be fun,'" Fujibayashi says, adding, "I feel like Zelda creates this foundation, this arena where developers can bring those ideas and actually bring them to life and realize that."
Not all Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake devs have played the N64 original – with Eiji Aonuma saying the remake pretty much served as an exercise for the developers who hadn't to see what insight it brings them.
Fujibayashi notes that "A lot of times, the question I have when I talk to younger staff is like, 'Is that going to be fun?'" and that he would point out if these ideas were previously done in the likes of Breath of the Wild or Ocarina of Time, which he notes is "the kind of probing and discussion that we do with the team such that they don't feel like they need to pull from an already existing pool of ideas that Zelda has plotted."
We currently don't know what the future of the Zelda series holds. Many – myself included – expect the open-world formula established in Breath of the Wild, and expanded on by Tears of the Kingdom will continue into something new, but from what Fujibayashi says, Zelda can pretty much be anything it wants, so there's a chance we have no idea what form the series may take next.
Check out our The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time review to see why it's the highest-rated game of 2026. You can also read our Legend of Zelda Switch 2 stock live blog if you're keen to grab one of Nintendo's new consoles for the game's launch.
