Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel gets official name, May 2023 release date

The next game in the Legend of Zelda series is called Tears of the Kingdom and will hit the Switch on May 12, 2023, Nintendo announced today during a livestreamed Nintendo Direct presentation. It has been over three years since Nintendo first announced the follow-up to Breath of the Wild and over a year since we saw the first gameplay footage for the title. A brief teaser shown during this morning's Nintendo Direct presentation didn't provide much detail that wasn't apparent in that previous showing, but it did put a lot of focus on Link falling through the sky and gliding through the air. The game seems to mimic the open-world, climbing-heavy gameplay of its predecessor.

The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom! The Legend of #Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on #NintendoSwitch 5/12/23. #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/qkGnFYFXNs — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 13, 2022

Breath of the Wild, which launched alongside the Switch in 2017, has sold over 27 million copies on that system. That makes the game the fourth best-selling Switch game and easily the biggest seller in the Zelda series to date.