The Real Reason Nintendo Won't Reveal The Breath Of The Wild Sequel Title

Fans have been clamoring for "Breath of the Wild 2" ever since Nintendo revealed its existence in 2019. However, during a recent interview with IGN, Nintendo Treehouse's Bill Trinen and Nate Bihldorff revealed that the name everyone has been using is a placeholder and not the actual name of the game. The sequel does have a proper name, but it might spoil what the game is about.

"As for why we're holding back on the name, you'll just have to stay tuned because, obviously, 'Zelda' names are kind of important," Trinen said in the interview. "Those subtitles... they start to give little bits of hints about maybe what's going to happen."

"Zelda" subtitles often refer to plot points and themes in the games. For example, "Windwaker" and "Ocarina of Time" implied wind and time themes respectively. "Breath of the Wild" moreso hinted at the open-world aspect of the game, but it was a hint nonetheless. So, in an effort to be as secretive as possible, Nintendo has opted to keep the game's true title a secret. The team internally calls the game the "sequel to Breath of the Wild," but fans are more than welcome to call it "Breath of the Wild 2" before the official reveal.

"['Breath of the Wild 2'] is going to be shorthand and it's natural for people to want to find a shorthand way to frame it. We're still calling it the sequel to 'Breath of the Wild,'" Trinen said.

Nintendo's E3 Direct included updates on new installments for several of its biggest series. "Metroid Dread" and "Shin Megami Tensei 5" especially drummed up hype before the "Zelda" segment at the very end of the show. Stakes were even higher for this Nintendo Direct after the disappointing one earlier this year, during which the dev team mentioned "Breath of the Wild 2," only to say that there weren't any new updates on the title.

The "Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity" expansion was supposed to be the last announcement of the day. Eiji Aonuma, Producer of the "Legend of Zelda" series, then appeared to present a Game & Watch collection of the first three "Zelda" games for series' 35th anniversary. Just as fans were about to give up hope, Aonuma mentioned the sequel to "Breath of the Wild" and said that there was finally more footage to show.

Fans rejoiced seeing Link in action again in new lands with mechanical monsters. Short-haired Zelda, an internet darling, unfortunately fell into a dark pit of doom, so fans will have to wait and see where that plot leads in 2022. In the meantime, fans have been dreaming up possible features for the new game and dissecting every last detail of the new trailer. At the very least, fans now know why the trailer bears the rather cumbersome title of "Sequel to 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.'"