Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has confirmed that there is no DLC being made for Tears Of The Kingdom and there probably never will be.
Although Nintendo never promised anything, most assumed that, based on how Zelda: Breath Of The Wild worked, there would be a DLC expansion for Tears Of The Kingdom. Especially after references to DLC were seemingly found by accident on the Nintendo website.
It seems they really were just a mistake though as Zelda producer, and series overlord, Eiji Aonuma has categorically stated there are ‘no plans’ for DLC for Tears Of The Kingdom.
That’s not quite the same as saying there never will be any, but if they haven’t started work on it by now it does seem as if Tears Of The Kingdom is never going to get an expansion.
Aonuma’s comments come from an interview in Famitsu, which means relying on a machine translation, but when asked about future plans (the word DLC doesn’t seem to have been used specifically) he replied in detail:
‘There are no plans to release additional content this time, but that’s because I feel like I’ve done everything I can to create games in that world. In the first place, the reason why we chose this time as a sequel to the previous game is because we thought there would be value in experiencing a new kind of play in that place in Hyrule,’ said Aonuma.
‘Then, if such a reason is newly born, it may return to the same world again. Whether it’s a sequel or a new work, I think it will be a completely new way to play, so I’d be happy if you could look forward to it.’
The translation gets a bit unclear at this point, but the interviewer then seems to ask him if he’s worried that the quality and positive reception to Tears Of The Kingdom creates a ‘hurdle’ when planning a new game.
[Director Hidemaro] Fujibayashi and the rest of the development team do not consider this a hurdle, so please keep your expectations high!’
That’s surprisingly candid talk from anyone at Nintendo and not only seems to rule out any chance of DLC but also implies that Aonuma has an idea for the next game – or at least is not intimidated at the thought of making one.
Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t talk about any time frame for the next game, not least because it would almost certainly be for the still secret Switch 2.
Many fans have theorised that Nintendo may release a special edition of Tears Of The Kingdom for the new console but while logically speaking that does seem a possibility, Aonuma gives no hint of any such plans.
