Two former Nintendo of America PR managers have described how only a handful of employees knew about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before its surprise announcement at E3 2019.
Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, who left the company in 2022, said fewer than 10 people at Nintendo of America were aware of the game ahead of the reveal. Ellis noted that the list included just a couple of Japan liaison staff and then-president Doug Bowser.
Ellis was selected for the small group because of his prior work on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. He recalled that his workload grew significantly as E3 approached, requiring him to handle communications tasks alone and in secret.
Yang recalled that even Ellis's boss learned of the game only when the trailer aired. The managers discussed the episode on their YouTube channel.