A new report claims that Mario + Rabbids developer Ubisoft Milan was trying to make a Zelda spin-off starring Ganondorf as the lead. But the project ended up going nowhere, leading to some key Ubisoft devs leaving and possibly putting an end to Nintendo and Ubisoft’s partnership.
On September 24, Insider Gaming reported that it had learned from sources with knowledge of the situation that in 2023, following the release of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Ubisoft Milan pitched a much bigger and more ambitious idea. It wanted to make a Legend of Zelda spin-off starring a new, never-before-seen protagonist. The game was reportedly codenamed Goliath and was pitched to Nintendo in early 2023. Allegedly, Nintendo liked the concept, but suggested a big change: Ganondorf should be the lead character of this spin-off. With that in mind, a small team, led by Ubisoft Milan vet Davide Soliani, began work on a prototype that needed to be finished by the end of the year.
Insider Gaming didn’t report on what the prototype looked like or what kind of game Ubisoft Milan was making, but by November 2023, Soliani and the team had a prototype finished and showed it to Nintendo. That Mario company rejected the prototype for reasons that are reportedly still not clear. After that cancellation, Insider Gaming reports that Ubisoft began pitching games using other Nintendo IP, including possibly a Star Fox game or another title set in the Mario universe. However, by early 2024, communication between Nintendo and Ubisoft began to stop.
Ubisoft declined to provide a comment to Insider Gaming.
Soliani, as well as other Ubisoft devs including Cristina Nava and Gian Marco Zanna, would later leave Ubisoft in July 2024. When asked why they left, they explained in an interview that it was because an ambitious project they were involved in didn’t get to see the light of day. The group formed Day 4 Night and is now working on the cool-looking platformer Bradley the Badger.