When it comes to shaping the landscape of gaming, few names carry as much weight as Dan Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar Games and one of the creative minds behind Grand Theft Auto.
Houser recently offered some fascinating praise for Nintendo and The Legend of Zelda series, comparing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom to the films of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock.
Speaking with Lex Fridman on his podcast, Houser reflected on how groundbreaking early 3D games were, saying, “all of those early 3D games were very amazing when you first saw them,” adding that “suddenly these games, they’re alive, or they’re believable in a different way.”
The two also discussed how Nintendo has always approached game design with incredible precision, with Fridman noting, “Zelda pioneered the feeling of a world.”
Houser went on to highlight The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom as prime examples of what makes Nintendo’s philosophy so unique.
“The new ones, they almost, to me, feel like Hitchcock. They’re just speaking the language of video games,” he said.
Houser admired how Zelda’s design is deeply interconnected, explaining that you “know everything is going to work this way and that way, and it’s quite systemic,” calling the way it all comes together “so amazing.”
He elaborated on the comparison, saying, “It feels like when you watch a Hitchcock film, it’s not reality, he’s speaking the language of cinema in a very strong accent. It’s very, very cinematic, it’s not realism at all.”
For Houser, what makes these Zelda games so special is that they fully embrace what makes gaming its own art form. As he put it, they are “these amazing things that could only be video games, they couldn’t be anything else.”
Houser’s admiration for Zelda’s artistry might raise some eyebrows considering Nintendo’s upcoming live-action Zelda movie. Based on what he’s saying here, it sounds like he believes the magic of Zelda belongs within the interactive world of gaming, not on the big screen.
Still, hearing one of the biggest figures in gaming compare Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom to the works of Alfred Hitchcock says a lot about how profoundly these titles have influenced both players and creators.
In Houser’s eyes, Nintendo is crafting cinematic experiences that can only exist in the language of play.
