Ubisoft reportedly once tried its hand at pitching a project to Nintendo that is built around one of gaming's most recognizable franchises.
According to a report, the concept took an unusual approach, centering the story on the series' longtime villain rather than its usual hero.
Ubisoft Once Pitched a 'Zelda' Game to Nintendo
According to a claim from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, Ubisoft put together a pitch for a "The Legend of Zelda" game and brought the concept to Nintendo, hoping to convince the company to greenlight the project.
This would not have been Ubisoft's first attempt at working within the franchise either, since the studio previously built a working prototype of "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" for Game Boy Advance back in 2003. However, this project went nowhere after failing to secure approval from Nintendo leadership.
This latest reported pitch took a notably different direction from that earlier prototype, moving away from adapting an existing game and instead proposing something built entirely around a new story concept centered on the franchise's most iconic villain.
Ubisoft Chose Ganondorf As its Protagonist
Rather than building the pitch around Link or Princess Zelda, the two characters most associated with leading a mainline entry, Ubisoft reportedly structured its concept around Ganondorf. This character is the recurring antagonist and Gerudo King of Evil who has served as the primary villain across numerous entries in the series (via IGN).
Nintendo has previously described Ganondorf as holding a narrative weight nearly equal to the series' heroes, with series director Hidemaru Fujibayashi once stating that Ganondorf functions almost like another protagonist within the overall story.
That existing depth likely made him an appealing choice for a pitch looking to justify a villain-led narrative. This gave Ubisoft a character already established as complex enough to anchor a story on his own, rather than needing to build up a compelling perspective from scratch.
What Happened to the Pitch to Nintendo?
Despite the concept reportedly making it to Nintendo, the pitch ultimately did not move forward into actual development. No "Zelda" game centered on Ganondorf as a playable lead has ever been released or officially announced by Nintendo, and the publisher has not commented publicly on the reported pitch.
Nintendo has historically kept a tight hold over which studios get access to its core franchises, and pitches from outside developers looking to work within the "Zelda" universe have rarely made it past the concept stage.
This is based on how few external collaborations the series has seen compared to Nintendo's other major properties.
'Zelda' Remains as a Nintendo Exclusive
Outside of a small handful of collaborations, including Capcom's work on the "Oracle" titles for Game Boy Color and Koei Tecmo's development of the "Hyrule Warriors" spin-off series, "The Legend of Zelda" has remained almost entirely developed in-house by Nintendo and its closest internal partners.
That pattern extends to platforms as well, with every mainline entry in the series staying exclusive to Nintendo hardware since the franchise debuted in 1986.
Given how selective Nintendo continues to be with the property, pitches like Ubisoft's reported Ganondorf concept illustrate just how difficult it remains for outside studios to gain real creative control over one of the company's most valuable franchises.
