nintendo reportedly asked ubisoft for ganondorf as the lead and then rejected the prototype

according to insider gaming's tom henderson, ubisoft milan pitched a new zelda spinoff after sparks of hope. the original pitch apparently had a new protagonist, and nintendo reportedly liked the idea enough to ask them to make ganondorf the playable lead instead. the project was codenamed goliath. ubisoft milan built a prototype through 2023, then nintendo rejected it in november. the reason is still unknown. none of this has been announced by nintendo or ubisoft. henderson says the story comes from more than 18 months of reporting and that he independently corroborated enough of it to publish. i am now mad about a ganondorf game i did not know existed yesterday.