Ubisoft almost did a Zelda game with Ganondorf as a playable character
, by Thibaut
Back in 2017, Ubisoft officially announced its partnership with Nintendo on a game titled Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. This turn-based tactical game received excellent critical and commercial acclaim on the Switch. So much so that a sequel was quickly greenlit.
Thus, in October 2022, Ubisoft Milan released Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope on the hybrid console. Once again, the quality was there, but sales didn’t follow suit. Despite this, the French publisher and Nintendo maintain excellent relations, and a third collaborative project between the two companies started development.
The following information comes from Insider Gaming this week. This new project, conceived in early 2023, was a The Legend of Zelda game. It was initially intended to be a spin-off in which the player would take on the role of a new character. The concept eventually evolved to take a different direction. The protagonist of this installment was to be Ganondorf, Link’s archenemy!
In November 2023, Ubisoft Milan had delivered a "compelling" prototype, but Nintendo reportedly rejected it. The title was canceled, but the Japanese company wanted to propose another franchise to the studio. It was likely Star Fox or another game set in the Mario universe. Unfortunately, between late 2023 and early 2024, discussions began to stall, and the team behind the two Mario + Rabbids games was gradually reassigned to other projects in development at Ubisoft. In fact, several key figures from the Milan studio even left the publisher shortly thereafter.
That is why a third game ultimately never saw the light of day.
Source: insider-gaming.com