Nintendo is holding back Zelda’s 35th anniversary because it’s marketing

The Legend of Zelda turned 35 on Sunday, February 21, but Nintendo let the anniversary pass by without making much noise. If you’re a fan of the publisher’s major adventure series, you might find the silence distressing. But if you look at the anniversary as marketing, Nintendo’s decisions make more sense.

When a corporation celebrates an anniversary, it is with the purpose of selling more products. And the way that Nintendo is going to maximize its return on these marketing efforts is to spread them out and let them breathe.