Nintendo may be working on a Zelda: Breath of the Wild project for the new system; Codename “Once” is tipped for Switch successor

And the saga of rumors surrounding Nintendo’s new hardware that should succeed the Nintendo Switch during early 2025 continues, this time involving quotes about software that may be designed for the system.

First of all, it is worth mentioning that the correct codename for the console is “OUNCE” (or “OZ” for short)a discovery made last year by dataminers who were digging through firmware updates for the current Nintendo Switch and ended up coming across this quote in one of the system’s security certificate files.

With this in mind, the renowned leaker Midoriknown for bringing leaks to light involving mainly SEGA and ATLUS projects, recently announced through a post on its account on X (formerly Twitter) that Nintendo would be working on a project codenamed U-King-O.

“U-King” is a term used by Nintendo internally to classify The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildadding the suffix “S” to differentiate between the Nintendo Wii U and Switch versions. As we already have in mind that the codename of the new system is Ounce and in this project we have added the suffix “O”Midori then immediately assumed that it was something related to the company’s next console.

Later, another renowned leaker — Pyoro — was asked by a follower about the veracity of this when he saw that he “liked” Midori’s post. Pyoro responded as follows:

I knew about this codename, but I never thought it could be related to Ounce or anything like that. Midori made a great point here.

It is speculated that this version will be released as an upgrade and made available in the new console’s digital library to feature graphical and performance improvements, enabling an upgrade from the current version for those who have already purchased the game on their Nintendo Account on the Nintendo Switch.

With two of the biggest leakers reporting on the matter and even confirming the codename, it is almost certain that there is something in development internally at Nintendo on the matter.

Nintendo has not commented on rumors, but an official announcement of the successor to the Nintendo Switch is expected by the end of March 2025.