According to an Insider Gaming exclusive amplified by Kotaku and Polygon, Ubisoft Milan once pitched Nintendo on an official The Legend of Zelda spinoff — and the project never left prototype stage.
Goliath, then Ganondorf
The report says that after Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Ubisoft Milan pitched an original Zelda spinoff starring a previously unknown protagonist under the internal codename Goliath. Nintendo reportedly liked the concept but asked the team to make Ganondorf the player character instead. A small team led by Milan veteran Davide Soliani worked a prototype through 2023 and showed it to Nintendo in November 2023 — Nintendo rejected it for reasons the report says remain unclear. Neither Insider Gaming nor the outlets amplifying it described the prototype’s genre, systems, or look.
Partnership talks cool off
After the rejection, Ubisoft Milan allegedly floated other Nintendo IP pitches (Mario-adjacent and Star Fox have been rumored in secondary coverage). Conversations between Nintendo and Ubisoft reportedly broke down across late 2023 into early 2024. Ubisoft declined to comment to Insider Gaming, per Kotaku. Nintendo has not publicly confirmed the project.
Day 4 Night adjacency
Soliani and other Milan alumni later left Ubisoft and formed Day 4 Night, now developing Bradley the Badger. That exit is soft context for what happened to the team — not proof of why Nintendo passed. Separately, Nintendo’s own The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 remake remains dated November 5, 2026; that remake is unrelated to the cancelled Milan pitch.
