A few years ago, Nintendo enlisted the aid of Monolith Soft toassist in the development ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Now it seems the Big N is putting even more trust into Monolith Soft, as the company seems to be actively hiring people to work on a new, unannouncedLegend of Zeldagame, presumably for the Switch.
Monolith Soft has sent out a tweet looking for recruits, and is currently hiring programmers, designers, technical artists, and support staff. Details on the Monolith SoftLegend of Zeldagame are currently unavailable, but it’s a safe bet that it’s notThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakeningremake for the Switch or the recently-revealedCrypt of the NecroDancer/Legend of Zeldacrossover gameCadence of Hyrule.
Instead it’s likely that this is a brand newZeldaproject from Monolith Soft. But while theXenobladestudio is working on a newZelda, it’s possible that Nintendo is still the primary developer on the game. Again, we know next to nothing about the project except that it exists, and so Monolith Soft’s role in its development may not be quite as involved as this hiring spree would make it seem.
Then again, it’s not unprecedented for Nintendo to outsource the development of itsZeldagames. Perhaps the most famous example of Nintendo collaborating with other studios onThe Legend of Zeldais when it partnered with Capcom to create handheldZeldagames, includingOracle of Ages,Oracle of Seasons, andThe Minish Cap.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that while Monolith Soft is not an internal Nintendo team that would usually handle the development of aZeldagame, the company is still owned by Nintendo. This makes it even more likely that Nintendo would look to Monolith Soft to make the nextZelda, especially when taking into account the consistent critical acclaim it’s enjoyed sinceXenoblade Chronicleslaunched for the Wii.
While it’s too early at this point to say much about what the newZeldagame from Monolith Soft will be, fans of the franchise should rest easy knowing it’s in development. And in the meantime, they can look forward to theLink’s AwakeningremakeandCadence of Hyruleon the Switch later this year.
