V: You only have to look back at all the speculation surrounding Breath of the Wild, from us adults in the press, to see how the series still fascinates older players, people who've got practically all of modern gaming to make their choices from. When stories were circulating—about what this game might be, and what form its characters might take—does that become a distraction for the team, at all? Is it difficult to not get too wrapped up, as the game's makers, in the audience's own expectations for it?

EA: We do actually pay a lot of attention to what fans are saying, after every Zelda is released. We want to know how people have found each game, how they've reacted to it. What their experiences were. And we also take on board what people are saying in the run-up to a new Zelda's release. Sometimes I'll see a reaction, to a trailer perhaps, and it's one I can empathize with—"Yes, I see what you mean. I feel the same way myself." And the opinions that resonate most with me, I definitely take them into account when the time comes to create the next Zelda.

But there are always going to be so many different opinions out there, before and after a game's released. And so many different ideas about what should, or could, be put into a Zelda game. If you listen to them all, you'll end up with… Well, I've no idea what kind of game you'd end up with, but it probably wouldn't be a very good one. So we have to follow our own vision, really, and not pay too much mind to speculation.

V: One of the biggest talking points when Breath of the Wild was first revealed was the possibility of Link being a woman this time—or, at least, for players to have the option to select their own gender for the Hero of Time. It was quickly confirmed that no, Link is very much a male in this game. But does seeing conversations like that inspire you for future Zelda games, or spin-off titles set within the same universe?

EA: I think it was three years ago, at E3 in 2014, when the game was still at an early stage of development that I said something that I maybe shouldn't have. There wasn't much serious meaning behind it, but I said something along the lines of, 'Well, I've not said that Link is necessarily a male,' and that got picked up on, and became a bit of a talking point.

Really, the main thing I realized then is that I have to be really careful with what I say, because there's always the possibility of, even when you don't quite mean what you've said, it can be taken differently, and become this big discussion.
And regarding the future possibility of us taking a Zelda title in a new direction, perhaps with Link as someone different, or with a new protagonist altogether who's radically different from what we've seen before, on the Wii U there's already Hyrule Warriors. In that you've got Princess Zelda herself as a playable character, and a real assortment of playable characters including numerous female ones. So, that title exists already. But in the future, regarding doing that sort of thing again, and changing what you expect from Zelda characters, I'd say yes, it's a possibility.

V: There's voice acting in Breath of the Wild, for the first time in the Zelda series. Is that something you'd considered introducing before now? And personally, in other games you play, do you find that you develop a better connection with games characters when they are voiced?

EA: I definitely feel that, when you're playing a game, if a character actually speaks to you, with a voice, then you do have a deeper connection with them. You get a clearer sense of who that character is, and what they're all about.

In terms of whether or not we'd considered using voice acting in the past, we definitely have thought about it. We weren't able to do it, though. This time, we could. Now, why we could this time, but not before, is to do with a certain system we've used in the game. But I can't really tell you any more about what that system is, because it'd kind of be giving too much away about the game. You'll just have to play it, and see how the voice acting fits in for yourself.

V: And where does this Zelda fit on the series' timeline, in its chronology, split as that is into three separate yet connected branches?

EA: I wouldn't say that it obviously fits into any one part of the timeline, but if you play the game, you'll be able to work out where it fits. As you probably saw in the trailer, the most recent trailer, there's a woman's voice, and she says: "The history of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of the Calamity Ganon." And as you know, the Zelda series, up until now, is a history of repeated attacks by Ganon. So, there's food for thought there. I don't want to say anything more as I'd like players to work it out for themselves, to play the game and see what they think.