Tears Of The Kingdom Had "Higher Level Of Security" Than Any Other Nintendo Game

Former Nintendo Employee Claims One Zelda Reveal Was So Secret, Their Boss Didn't Even Know Published Jul 18, 2026, 9:57 AM EDT James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life 3, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Sign in to your TheGamer account In a new YouTube video, former Nintendo employees Kit & Krysta discussed the “biggest secrets” they had to keep at Nintendo, and surprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's reveal was one of the closest-guarded. Announced at E3, there really wasn’t much to show. A one-minute teaser offered a brief glimpse at Zelda and Link traveling through an ancient cavern, as swirling green magic written in ancient runes flowed from a mummified corpse surrounded by malice, all while Hyrule castle rose from the ground. We didn’t even get a title, just a vague promise that a Breath of the Wild sequel was in development. Nonetheless, according to former senior public relations manager Kit Ellis, the very first reveal had “a higher level of security than anything else I’d certainly been a part of.” Less Than Ten People Knew About Tears Of The Kingdom Reveal Kit claimed that “less than ten people” at Nintendo were on the disclosure list—not even his boss was privy to the reveal, and only one person in legal was approved to look at the materials. “It was me, like a couple of the Japan liaison people, Doug Bowser—I’m not joking,” he explained. “And the reason I was chosen to be involved in this was because I had been the lead on Breath of the Wild. ‘We’re starting this new game. We don’t know—who knows how we’re going to handle that? It’s many years away, but you’re just going to have to do this as an extension of your job because the team trusts you.” That tight-knit security meant that Kit was extremely hands-on with the announcement, handling the jobs of various different teams in complete secrecy. “For example, the social team which I was overseeing at the time, I was not the one who was cranking out every single piece of copy,” Kit said. “In this case, I did. So I had to write all the copy for all the channels and stuff. And when it went over, I send it to—’hey Brad! Here you go. Don’t ask me any questions about what this is. Just post it.’” There was the odd gameplay leak before the full 2022 reveal, but for the most part, the game was iron-clad. Not even the name leaked. Which, in hindsight, is pretty lucky for Nintendo, considering that the announcement got delayed after Queen Elizabeth died—not exactly the best time to reveal a title like Tears of the Kingdom. Systems Released May 12, 2023 ESRB Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes Developer(s) Nintendo Publisher(s) Nintendo Engine Havok Cross-Platform Play N/A Cross Save N/A Genre(s) Adventure, Action, Open-World