The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and GTA 6: The video game industry’s Barbenheimer moment - The Game Business

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Sony ditches Kojima, Xbox swoops in

This time next week I’ll be at Tokyo Game Show. It’s my first trip to Japan, and I’m very excited to understand one of the oldest video game markets. It has gone through its own peaks and troughs, but continues to define where this industry is headed.

Naturally, in the build-up to such an event, we’ve had a number of announcement showcases. Last week, Sony held a State of Play. It didn’t set the world alight, but there were plenty of interesting games in there.

And this week it was Nintendo’s turn, who delivered a double bill of Directs. One entirely focused on Zelda, and the other a more traditional show.

On paper, the Zelda Direct seemed pretty similar to the Sony showcase. There was a LEGO model, a special edition controller, a movie reveal (if you can call it that), and a lengthy deep dive into a remake of a game we all played nearly 30 years ago.

And yet, for reasons I cannot describe, it was more exciting (says the guy with a Zelda poster on his wall).

Anyway, in this week’s edition, I give a bit of Nintendo analysis, and Ubisoft came on the show to talk about its new Player Council. Check it out.

So, it turns out there is one game that dares come out in the same month as Grand Theft Auto 6. This week Nintendo announced that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake will launch on November 5th. It is a full two weeks before Grand Theft Auto, but it’s still within the danger zone. It’s certainly a release date that most game publishers would try to avoid. Nintendo, though, plays by its own rules, and Zelda is a distinctive title that is on a platform that Grand Theft Auto 6 (currently) isn’t coming out on.

Zelda and GTA represents a potential Barbenheimer moment for the console industry. Just like when Oppenheimer and Barbie in 2023 drove audiences back to the cinema, these two games appear set to drive gamers back to console.

That might seem a stretch. After all, Ocarina of Time is a remake. Surely, that can’t be discussed in the same breath as the very long-awaited sequel to the world’s most successful video game?

And of course not, but Ocarina of Time is a significant title. The nostalgia for this one is immensely strong. It is, after all, ‘the greatest game of all time’. One of the icons of the N64. But this goes beyond a nostalgia play.

“You’ve got a series that’s grown substantially, combined with one of its most beloved entries”

A great example of the potential of a strong remake can be found in the Resident Evil series. Far more people bought the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 4 than the originals. That’s because the series has grown substantially, and so there is an audience of younger players who have heard of these classics, but haven’t played them. They’re just not up to modern standards. So, Capcom brought both games up-to-date, and delivered them for a new generation.

There’s a similar story here for Zelda. The 1998 Ocarina of Time, and the 2011 3D edition, both sold around 6.5 million copies. That’s a decent number for a Zelda game. They often do around the five million figure. The biggest Zelda game before 2017 was 2006’s Twilight Princess, which fell just short of nine million sales.

Then Breath of the Wild happened in March 2017, and the franchise soared to new heights. That game has now sold over 34 million copies. A sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, followed in 2023, which is currently just short of 23 million sales. Zelda always had the reputation as one of the industry greats, but now it has the commercial clout to go with it.

So, what you’ve got is a series that’s grown substantially, combined with one of its most beloved entries - a game that only sold 20% of Breath of the Wild’s numbers.

The pre-release buzz suggests it’s a winning combination. Outside of GTA 6, no other game has attracted as much trailer views and press attention as Ocarina of Time this year. It was the clear winner of the Summer Game Fest season of trailer reveals.

According to LevelUp, the Zelda Nintendo Direct reveal attracted 2.1 million peak viewers. To offer some comparisons:

The GTA 6 reveal on YouTube (excluding Netflix) managed 4.1 million

The PlayStation State of Play last week peaked at one million.

Gamescom Opening Night Live peaked at two million.

Peak viewership for the Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct was 930,000 in April 2025

After less than a day, the Ocarina of Time remake trailer hit 55 million views. Over the same period, the GTA 6 Extended Look reached 80 million, the Mario Kart World Gameplay Overview managed five million and Final Fantasy 7: Revelation release date trailer was 3.7 million.

So, the numbers certainly back up the social media noise.

It is important to note that Ocarina of Time is a different style of game to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It’s a far more linear, structured Zelda game. So, it might not appeal quite as broadly.

Indeed, there were a handful of ‘traditional’ Zelda games released post-Breath of the Wild. There was a HD remaster of 2011 Wii game Skyward Sword, a remake of 1993 Game Boy game Link’s Awakening, and an entirely new 2D game in 2024’s Echoes of Wisdom. All three games sold reasonably well, between four and six million copies each, but nothing particularly significant. However, these games were all smaller in scope and scale, and lack the mass appeal of Ocarina of Time.

Much of it is going to come down to Nintendo itself. How much of Nintendo’s Christmas marketing power will it put behind Ocarina of Time? The early signs are positive. The Direct was ambitious and there was a clear focus in explaining Ocarina of Time to new players. Although I must admit, it was amusing watching Nintendo make a big deal out of a jump button and the ability to freely move the camera. Two features that didn’t exist in the 1998 original, but are entirely standard in modern games.

Ultimately, I expect Nintendo to heavily push this new game, much in the same way that PlayStation and Xbox are really putting their weight behind GTA 6. The console market is in a tough spot right now. Sales are falling and prices are rising. But the solution to troubled times in the video game industry is to release interesting, exciting video games. And in November, within just two weeks of each other, we’ve got two very different, very powerful, and very exciting video games coming out. I for one can’t wait.

Keywords Studios is the games industry’s end-to-end partner, with 13,000 people across 26 countries helping studios build, launch and support games at global scale. Supercharged by technology and shaped by long-term partnership, Keywords Studios connects specialist expertise around the player experience.

For Marketing and Player Engagement, that means helping studios understand players more clearly and build stronger relationships. From player support, trust and safety to community insight and engagement strategy, Keywords Studios helps teams respond to player needs with more relevance, care and impact.

Ubisoft’s internal teams are calling for player feedback even at the prototype stage.

That’s according to the heads of Ubisoft’s Player Council, which is a new initiative that invites gamers to play Ubisoft prototypes, games and future updates. The more feedback that players offer, the more rewards they’ll unlock.

“When they’re making [suggestions] that are effective, actionable, and resonating with the dev teams and players, we want to acknowledge that,” said Vye Alexander, Director of Ubisoft’s Player Council. “We’ll be doing that through a tier system: when they make these contributions, they’ll increase to a higher tier. That new tier can unlock more access to confidential projects, earlier prototypes, and spaces where they’re able to have even deeper discussions or see additional elements of the game-making process.”

Four projects are in the Player Council so far, including two prototypes, and two existing live games.

“I hope that we see more as the platform continues to evolve,” said Alexander.

“It’s a new tool that is available to all of our teams, so if they want to use it, it’s here for them. What we’re seeing from our dev teams is an appetite for earlier, more direct feedback, and being able to have this two-way dialogue with players so they can feel better knowing they’re on the right track.”

One of the projects in the Council is Atomega. The game, by Ubisoft’s Reflections team, was released in 2017 to limited success. But the developer resurrected the project earlier this summer.

“The team has been working on other projects, but Atomega was always in the back of their mind,” said associate director of community Arnaud Fremont.

“Over the last few years, they were able to see that the community was still active. It was still playing and proposing ideas. So, they wanted to resume this adventure. They already started in July where they launched their test round, introducing new quality-of-life improvements. And now they are officially joining the Player Council to go to the next step.”

Check out our full chat with Fremont and Alexander in today’s The Game Business Show.

The Game Awards (and The Game Business co-founder) Geoff Keighley, and PlayStation architect Mark Cerny, have launched a new foundation to support young game designers.

The Nova Games Foundation is a university-backed fellowship program that will offer significant grants to 20 young game designers every year. Recipients will also receive mentorship from game industry leaders.

Nova will be collecting applications from 13 affiliated programs at universities across eight countries, including US, UK, France, Germany and Australia, from December.

Each recipient will receive $100,000, and about a quarter of them can also claim $500,000 more for projects that are showing promise. Payments will be delivered based on development milestones, and recipients will fully own their games.

In addition, Nova will help promote the work, and developers will be free to pursue the publishers and platforms of their choice. Nova can also make publishing introductions, too.

Speaking to Game File, Keighley said: “I’ve never owned stock in a game company or taken a financial stake in a game. Nova is philanthropy. We aren’t taking equity or looking to recoup the grants. The return we’re hoping for is creative, helping new voices make games and find their footing. Mark and I each made multimillion dollar donations to establish the foundation, and we intend to keep contributing. We hope others will join us.”

Those others include Hazelight boss Josef Fares, who is the first to back the fund.

Cerny added: “The industry has changed immeasurably since I started in games in 1982. These graduates have talent, training, and tools that outclass what we had back in the day by an astonishing amount, but they face a tough road ahead getting traction in the industry, and many could benefit from our support. We want to be there to give it to them.”

Xbox has swooped in to save Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid successor Physint. The game was being funded by PlayStation, but the company said it would be cancelling the project in mid-June. Hideo Kojima said that he was determined to keep the project alive and sought a new partner, eventually finding Xbox. Xbox is also publishing Kojima’s upcoming horror game OD. PlayStation had previously backed Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

During Nintendo’s second Direct video, the platform holder showed an array of third-party games including Monster Hunter Wilds, the Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 remakes, two Persona titles, Final Fantasy 7: Revelation, and the surprise launch of Meccha Chameleon - the hide and seek indie game which is currently the best-selling game of the year.

Alongside an abundance of partner games, Nintendo also announced an open world Kirby adventure called Kirby and the World Beyond, a new 2D Metroid game called Metroid Ravenous, plus updates for Mario Kart World, Pikmin 4, Star Fox and more. It also showed Onyx: The Dark Grip, a new horror IP from Bloober Team that is exclusive to the console. The Direct lacked Nintendo’s biggest IP, although the last big Kirby game had sold nearly eight million copies.

Keywords Studios has brought together seven of its creative agencies into one organization called FreeAnimal. The new agency brings together gnet, ICHI, KWM, Maverick, TrailerFarm, Big Farmer and Fire Without Smoke. Clients will continue to work with the same people, but can now plug into a wider global network.

Music and gaming newsletter MusicEXP has looked at the engagement figures for every track and artist featured in the Netflix Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look. The newsletter found that artists featured in the trailer saw monthly Spotify listeners grow 670% week-on-week, while tracks featured in the trailer saw week-on-week growth of 9,177% in Spotify streams.

LEGO Digital Play has acquired Offroad Games, a UK mobile developer set-up by former Space Ape Games employees. No financial details were disclosed.

Frontier has seen adjusted operating profit jump 62% to £21.4 million for the 2026 financial year, which is the highest in the company’s history. The results are due to strong sales in the Jurassic World Evolution, Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo franchises. The studio has just signed a deal with Disney to create a game featuring its IP.

Mintrocket’s adventure RPG Dave The Diver has now sold ten million copies.

The first big games of September have sold well. Onimusha: Way of the Sword sold one million copies in a single day, while Rebel Wolves’ The Blood of The Dawnwalker has also sold one million copies in two days.

A Steam maintenance bug has led to the achievement list of a number of unreleased – and in some cases unannounced – games becoming visible on sites that collect Steam achievement information via an API.

Seven employees of FuturLab have been made redundant following the cancellation of an unannounced project in pre-production. The project was unrelated to the firm’s hit PowerWash Simulator IP.

Life Is Strange developer Don’t Nod has warned that it may not be able to continue beyond January 31, 2027, unless it secures further external financing. Gross cash has fallen from $17.9 million at the end of last year to $9.3 million by the end of July.

Xbox is going to introduce monthly cloud gaming limits for Game Pass subscribers from November. Game Pass Essential will be limited to five hours of streaming time every month, Premium to ten hours, and Ultimate to 15 hours. Subscribers can then purchase additional hours once the time is up. Xbox says this will affect 4% of Game Pass subscribers.

PlayStation held two State of Play events last week ahead of Tokyo Game Show. It announced limited edition DualSense controllers that tie-in with GTA 6, alongside a date for Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, which is out April 8, 2027, and Until Dawn 2, which is out January 28. It also announced a LEGO PlayStation, updates to existing games, and a new folk horror IP called Hunters Moon.

The White House has launched Arcade.Gov, a website of browser games built around Donald Trump’s immigration policies. It uses all sorts of iconography and music from popular video games, and features a logo based on the classic Sega design.

We will be back next week with four editions! That includes our Monday morning ‘Here’s The Dring’ podcast, where we will be looking at the dominance of video game remakes. That one is only for paid subscribers. Until then, thank you for reading!