That doesn't strike me as a particularly apt comparison. In terms of sheer scale, these games are very different animals. And Zelda dungeons are, with very few exceptions, not exactly complex, or even particularly deep; they aren't bad, but they're pretty simple overall.

New engine each time. But windwaker was a new engine too I think.

Anyway good things come to those who wait.....

The artyle, perhaps, but after 3 years the best swordplay they could come up with was...that? I sometimes wonder if they over-thought that one.

You can't really compare the Zelda team to Rockstar considering Rockstar San Diego developed RDR, not Rockstar North (who develops GTA). Yes, people are crossed over and used for both studios, but they're largely different teams.

That said, if we're going to list different teams as one and the same, EAD3 developed every Zelda since FSA. This includes the handheld games. That roughly equals Rockstar from 2008-2013, since PH, ST, SS, LBW, and Link's Crossbow Training are much smaller in scale compared to a Rockstar game.

That all said, the reason these games take so long is because Aonuma is god awful at pacing the team. Man's a genius, but sometimes he just needs to stop saying "let's add this idea I just thought of now, scrap EVERYTHING!" and let the damn game get done.

There is no way a Zelda game takes that long to develop. It's simply franchise management. Nintendo wants certain properties to be long-term investments that will support consoles for many years. It's to keep the core concept fresh and anticipation levels high. The anticipation of certain games probably sells more consoles than the game itself.

Of course, that's a much more feasible plan when your present console is performing well.

And even then, annualised sequels are done by different teams each year since these take roughly 3 years to make even with all the asset reuse.

4-5 years is actually the time any AAA game takes to be made nowadays; the more plot and the bigger the world and the more things you can do in that world the longer it takes.

id rather they take lke 4-5 years to make the game quality rather than fart one out every 2 years and rush it

Because they make new engine, bigger game & new trick every next gen home console.

Because they always build from scratch, and I have NO IDEA why. Why can't we get another Majora's Mask situation? Especially with development costs rising, it makes no sense to reinvent the wheel every time and only release two games per decade.

its not only world size.

All the things you can do in zelda . Example Skyward sword: