Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto would rather not characterize the next The Legend of Zelda for Wii U as "open world," despite the company opting to use such language when describing the game during its E3 Digital Event.
"I prefer not to use the generally used term 'open world' when developing software, but we used this term [at E3] in order to make it easier for consumers to understand," Miyamoto explained during a Q&A with investors. "This term means that there is a large world in which players can do numerous things daily."
The legendary game designer then went on to elaborate, adding:
In the traditional The Legend of Zelda series, the player would play one dungeon at a time. For example, if there are eight dungeons, at the fourth dungeon, some players may think, 'I’m already halfway through the game,' while other players may think, 'I still have half of the game to play.' We are trying to gradually break down such mechanism and develop a game style in which you can enjoy The Legend of Zelda freely in a vast world, whenever you find the time to do so.
The Legend of Zelda for Wii U is set to launch sometime next year. Here's to hoping it doesn't get pushed to 2016.