Initially scheduled for a 2022 release, but this was pushed back to Q2 of 2023. Delayed release dates have practically become tradition with modern Legend of Zelda games since the 1990s; producer Eiji Aonuma explained it as such: "Every time we make a Zelda, we want to make something new, [...] It's hard to gauge how long that's going to take. And it's also hard to gauge at what point whatever we consider to be new is done." Aonuma's team never compromises on quality in order to make deadlines, as per series creator Shigeru Miyamoto's motto "a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad".
Series creator and long-time producer Shigeru Miyamoto took a far less active role in the making of this game because he was busy producing The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).
The game was born out of attempts to create additional downloadable content (DLC) for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017); the creative team had conceived of so many new ideas that they chose to make it into an individual game rather than an add-on.
The sound of the Master Sword is the same sound as Fi from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011).
It was revealed in an interview by Eiji Aonuma that the game had been finished for at least a year prior to its official release date, and yet they decided to push it back. This delay was specifically to carry out a full test of the game and refine the physics engine.