technological innovations: "The problems Nintendo solved back then have been influential across gaming genres and, whilst public acknowledgment of this influence is thin on the ground, it's difficult not to view Ocarina of Time as one of the fathers of modern gaming". In the months following the release of Breath of the Wild in 2017, many video game developers were influenced by its open world design. Alx Preston, creator of Hyper Light Drifter remarked that "the sense of freedom and experimentation is incredibly inspiring". Adam Saltsman, creator of Canabalt commented on the consistency of the game environment and the player's ability to experiment. Vlambeer's Rami Ismail said that "no game has done verticality as well as BotW". Sam Byford writing for The Verge commented on the impact of Breath of the Wilds open world on the video game industry, describing it as a "revolutionary approach to open-world game design". He cited several other subsequent game worlds that bear similarities to Breath of the Wild, including Genshin Impact, Immortals Fenyx Rising and Horizon Forbidden West. Both the miHoYo development team of Genshin Impact and Sam Barlow, creator of Telling Lies have cited Breath of the Wild as a significant source of inspiration. Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki also said that he was influenced by Breath of the Wild's open world. Upon its release, Breath of the Wild achieved critical acclaim and was the biggest commercial success of the franchise and one of the best-selling video games, selling nearly 23 million copies on the Nintendo Switch and over 1.6 million copies on the Wii U. Notes References Fantasy worlds Fictional countries in other worlds The Legend of Zelda Video game locations The Legend of Zelda characters Fantasy creatures Legend of Zelda Legend of Zelda Fictional countries Fictional elements introduced in 1986