Does the brand really need improved though?
A console Zelda game will sell more than 3 million units. That much is sure, it won't matter the kind of game it is.
Sure. A lot of people who grew up on Zelda have gotten burned over the years and don't buy it anymore. That's even more sales if they can get their reputation for quality back.
I grew up loving Zelda, but really I think it's become Nintendo's weakest brand in the last decade. Almost every other major franchise is consistent great quality. Mario platformers, Mario Kart, Smash, Animal Crossing, even Metroid's never been as inconsistent as Zelda outside that whole outsourced Other M fiasco. When I buy a Nintendo franchise I know what kind of game I'm getting and I know it's going to be good quality.
But Zelda? The entries are all over the place, from great to shit to good to ok, from boring to creative, tedious to fun. When I buy Zelda (if I buy Zelda) I don't know whether I'm going to end up with a game that hates me as a player or that's a grand ole' adventure. It's why I waited almost a year to play ALBW; because I didn't have any faith in the Zelda brand quality anymore. Only after a TON of positive word of mouth I picked it up and yeah, it was a great Zelda. But that's one good one after so many being burned on.
It'd do a lot for Nintendo to get the series to consistent quality. Stop padding the shit with non-skippable tutorials, a million fetch quests & back-tracking, awful intrusive narrators, etc... get rid of the stuff people have been hating on for years and just improve on what people like. Follow up on ALBW and make a quality
console Zelda and maybe the games will start selling even more.