The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is probably the best reason to own a Nintendo Switch. It's outsold every other standalone console launch title in Nintendo's history and marks another successful entry in the long-running franchise. So, it doesn't come as too much of a surprise to learn that a mobile game based on The Legend of Zelda series is being developed.
Citing anonymous "people familiar with the matter," a report in the Wall Street Journal claims Nintendo is developing the new Zelda mobile title alongside DeNA, the Japanese mobile gaming company behind Miitomo, Super Mario Run, and Fire Emblem Heroes. The two companies formed a partnership in 2015 to jointly work on games for smartphones, some of which feature iconic Nintendo characters.
The report comes a month after Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima said the firm intends to release two to three new games for smartphones in the financial year ending March 2018.
There are no details about the new Zelda mobile title, such as whether it'll be free-to-play and rely on microtransactions, or feature a single, one-off fee.
No word on an exact release date either, though the game is expected to arrive sometime after Animal Crossing, which has already been delayed twice.
The five mobile games Nintendo is developing with DeNA were all originally scheduled to launch before the end of March 2017, but considering the success of the three titles released so far, the company is unlikely to be concerned about missing this date. Should a new Zelda be one of the five, it could become the most lucrative game to result from the partnership.