Nintendo’s ‘The Legend of Zelda’ Rumored for 2018 iOS Release

Citing sources familiar with the matter, a report published over the weekend by The Wall Street Journal alleges that Nintendo will be developing a mobile-based title from its extremely-popular The Legend of Zelda RPG franchise, which will debut on both iOS and Android devices some time in 2018.

The game, which will be developed by DeNA (the same design studio who previously created the Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes titles for iPhone and iPad), will mark the inaugural debut of Link and his pals on the iOS and Android operating systems. When launched, the title will also mark the second time that the Legend of Zelda franchise has been implemented in a touchscreen format, following the wildly-successful debut of The Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild on Nintendo’s latest Switch video game console. As one of the most popular gaming franchises of 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is also available to users of Nintendo’s Wii U game console.

Though details about the forthcoming Zelda title, itself — including whether it will embody the next chapter in the franchise, or merely be a port of an existing title — remain scant at this time, the game will immediately follow the Japanese gaming-giant’s anticipated early-2018 release of Animal Crossing for iOS. Animal Crossing was originally expected to debut this year, however Nintendo and DeNA pushed it back until early-2018 so they could work on bringing Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes to Android instead.

Though details are scarce, we’d sincerely hope that a Legend of Zelda title on iOS and Android would take full advantage of native touchscreen interfaces, providing players with an immersive RPG experience similar to other Role Playing Game (RPG) titles for iOS. RPG’s on mobile have become increasingly popular within the last few years, as several other titles including Oceanhorn, Final Fantasy VII, and Chaos Rings II have also made their way onto mobile platforms, featuring the same, immersive modes of game-play traditionally available only to standalone gaming console players.

Nintendo has yet to confirm the news of a Zelda title coming to iOS and Android, however given that the report of its impending existence was published by a credible source like The Wall Street Journal, we would find it hard not to believe. Nevertheless, we recommend taking this report with a grain of salt until further notice from Nintendo.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]