The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a phenomenal game, praised for being able to improve and iterate upon Breath of the Wild. In the weeks after the game’s release, it was written up with all sorts of breathless praise as people wondered how Nintendo managed to make a game that seemed to outstrip the technical capabilities of now seven-year-old Switch hardware. 

To developers, the game looked like magic. But during a talk at the 2024 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo shared…