PointCrow’s Zelda: Breath of the Wild multiplayer mod likely releasing this year

Zackerie Fairfax
pointcrow botw multiplayer mod has four links looking over landscape

In an interview with Dexerto, PointCrow details how his highly anticipated multiplayer mod for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will likely release later this year.

In November 2021, popular Nintendo-centric content creator PointCrow posted a $10,000 bounty for whoever could create a multiplayer mod for Breath of the Wild. He also set a number of parameters the mod would need in order to qualify for the bounty.

The main requirements were that the mod would eventually be free for everyone to play, but PointCrow would have exclusive access for 1-2 weeks beforehand. He has done this with similar projects in the past, i.e. the Pokemon Universal Map Randomizer.

Point Crow announced the bounty two months ago, and he feels confident that the mod will be done this year. In fact, he has a team of paid developers working on smoothing over the mod’s rough edges.

BOTW multiplayer mod is playable

botw multiplayer mod Alex Mangue
Footage of a prototype of the working BOTW multiplayer mod.

Eric ‘PointCrow’ Morino is not confident that BOTW 2 will release in 2022, but he does seem to think his BOTW multiplayer mod will. According to Morino, on top of the $10,000 bounty, he is paying a team of developers an hourly wage to incentivize working on the mod.

“I posted the bounty… and then a couple months later, a video gets sent to me on YouTube. It has 20 views, and it’s a prototype of a working BOTW multiplayer mod.” Morino states that he got in contact with the developers to discuss the bounty.

Provided that they finish the mod, PointCrow ensured them they would receive the promised bounty. He also stated that not all of the parameters had to be met, but it would need to be a functional and smooth experience. “Because they’re working so hard on this, and because I want it to be ‘PointCrow’s Breath of the Wild Multiplayer’, I told them I’d pay them per hour to continue to develop this mod more than they already have.”

The mod will allow up to four players, and the developers have just fixed an issue with movement stuttering. PointCrow states that, while the devs are working on fixing kinks, the mod is functional and you can play with someone else. “It’s more complete than you’d think.”

When will the BOTW multiplayer mod release?

https://twitter.com/PointCrow/status/1488320001471762432

While Nintendo hasn’t announced the official release date for BOTW 2, PointCrow states that he expects the mod to be finished before the sequel’s release. Many Nintendo fans, PointCrow included, aren’t convinced BOTW 2 will release this year. But Morino thinks the multiplayer mod will be finished in 2022.

“I say ‘this year’ as this is what I think will happen provided there aren’t any huge major roadblocks. But the major roadblock we already passed was getting somebody else to be seen in the game. I’m not a developer myself, but I don’t see any other major roadblocks.”

PointCrow didn’t give a timeline for its release, just that it will probably be done “soon.” But giving the public access to the mod is an entirely different issue.

Morino still plans to make the mod free to the public, but the ramifications of the mod may impose on Nintendo’s intellectual properties. “It’s a little more than just a mod. I want to make it free for everybody, but it depends on what Nintendo thinks.” He went on to explain how he will probably release the mod, but there’s still fear that Nintendo will take it down.

We will continue to keep this piece updated as more information regarding PointCrow’s BOTW multiplayer mod is made available. Until then, check out everything we know about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.