Nintendo is infamously cagey about revealing which studios are working on its games. While the company’s secrecy isn’t entirely out of step with an industry that generally hides how the sausage is made, Nintendo takes this to another level, trying to create a Disneyland-like sense of wonder around its brand. After speculation that a support studio is handling the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, an Ask the Developer article posted by Nintendo officially confirms which team is leading development: longtime Zelda studio Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) Production Group No. 3.
Of the six developers interviewed, four are from Production Group No. 3. The other two are Eiji Aonuma, longtime Zelda producer and the former group manager of Group No. 3, and Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who directed several Zelda games at the studio. While it seems fairly obvious that the new Zelda game is being worked on by the studio that makes most of The Legend of Zelda games, there were several reasons to doubt that.
For starters, the previous remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS wasn't made by Production Group No. 3, and was instead handled by the Japanese studio Grezzo. That team also made the 3DS version of Majora’s Mask and led development on 2024’s The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Another popular candidate for leading development on the Ocarina of Time remake was Xenoblade creator Monolith Soft.
Nintendo owns Monolith Soft, and it acted as a support studio on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and others. Monolith is currently developing Xenoblade Genesis, which is scheduled for a 2027 release on the Nintendo Switch 2. While some will undoubtedly be disappointed that the main Zelda team is working on a remake instead of fully dedicating itself to the next major installment in the series, it's possible it is doing both with the help of support studios.
Additionally, if Grezzo and Monolith aren’t working on this remake, they may have more time for other projects, like a potential follow-up to Echoes of Wisdom and the previously mentioned Xenoblade title. We’ll find out the full list of studios that contributed to the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake when the game comes out on Nov. 5.
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