According to a new report from Insider Gaming, the studio behind Mario + Rabbids worked on a previously unknown Legend of Zelda spinoff that would have put Ganondorf in the lead role. The project, internally known as “Goliath,” reached the prototype stage before Nintendo reportedly decided not to move forward with it in late 2023.
Perhaps the strangest part of the story is that Ganondorf apparently wasn’t Ubisoft’s original choice for the protagonist.
Insider Gaming reports that Ubisoft Milan initially envisioned Goliath as a Zelda spinoff starring a completely new character. After the concept was presented to Nintendo in early 2023, Nintendo reportedly suggested replacing that character with Ganondorf instead.
That would have given Zelda fans something the main series has never really attempted: an adventure built around its most famous villain.
Project Goliath started after Mario + Rabbids
The idea reportedly took shape following the release of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope in October 2022.
Ubisoft Milan already had a close working relationship with Nintendo by that point. The studio helped lead development on both Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Sparks of Hope, two games that placed Nintendo characters inside an Ubisoft-developed tactical RPG.
Ubisoft has previously described Milan and Paris as the teams leading the creative, technical and design vision for Sparks of Hope. Davide Soliani served as creative director on the project and had become one of the most recognizable faces behind the Mario + Rabbids collaboration.
According to Insider Gaming, conversations about another Nintendo project began not long after Sparks of Hope launched.
Instead of immediately pursuing a third Mario + Rabbids game, Soliani and a small group at Ubisoft Milan spent the winter working on something much more ambitious.
By early 2023, they had developed the pitch that became Goliath.
Nintendo reportedly suggested Ganondorf as the playable character
The original pitch apparently involved a brand-new protagonist created for the Zelda universe.
Nintendo reportedly liked the broader concept, but suggested a major change: make Ganondorf the playable lead instead.
That detail makes Goliath particularly unusual.
Ganondorf has been playable in games such as Hyrule Warriors and the Super Smash Bros. series, but Zelda’s traditional adventures have overwhelmingly been told from the perspective of Link, and more recently Zelda herself.
A full spinoff centered on Ganondorf could have approached Hyrule from an entirely different direction.
Unfortunately, we don’t know what Ubisoft planned to do with him.
There are no reported details about the game’s story, combat system, setting or structure. There is also nothing indicating whether Ubisoft intended to portray Ganondorf as a hero, an antihero, or simply place players on the opposite side of a familiar Zelda conflict.
Claims that Goliath was an origin story or a redemption story would be speculation at this point.
Ubisoft Milan reportedly built a prototype
Goliath appears to have gone considerably further than an idea written on a whiteboard.
According to sources cited by Insider Gaming, Ubisoft Milan was given until around the end of 2023 to create a prototype strong enough to get the project through its next greenlight.
The studio reportedly spent much of 2023 working toward that goal.
Nintendo ultimately rejected the prototype in late November 2023.
Why it was rejected isn’t known.
There has been no indication that Ganondorf’s role was the problem, nor has anything credible surfaced suggesting that Nintendo objected to the gameplay, story, budget or direction of the project.
In fact, if the report is accurate, Nintendo was the company that proposed using Ganondorf in the first place.
It is also worth keeping the project’s stage of development in perspective. Goliath does not appear to have been a full Zelda game that was approaching release. The available reporting points to a concept and prototype that needed Nintendo’s approval before progressing further.
Nintendo reportedly decided not to give it that approval.
The end of another Nintendo and Ubisoft collaboration
What happened afterward may have had larger consequences for Ubisoft Milan.
Insider Gaming reports that another Nintendo property was discussed following Goliath’s rejection. Star Fox and another game set in the Mario universe were reportedly among the ideas circulating inside the studio.
Those discussions apparently went nowhere.
Between late 2023 and early 2024, talks between Ubisoft and Nintendo reportedly began to break down. The Goliath development team was then split across other Ubisoft projects, while some employees were temporarily left without an assigned project.
Several senior members of the Mario + Rabbids team eventually departed Ubisoft.
Davide Soliani, Cristina Nava and Gian Marco Zanna left the company in July 2024 and later formed the independent studio Day 4 Night with veteran developer Christian Cantamessa.
Insider Gaming points to comments Zanna made after his departure about an ambitious Soliani-led project that failed to materialize. At the time, the game itself wasn’t publicly identified.
The new reporting suggests that project may have been Goliath.
Ubisoft isn’t confirming the Ganondorf project
Neither Nintendo nor Ubisoft has officially announced that Goliath existed.
Insider Gaming says its reporting is based on more than 18 months of research into canceled video games and that details surrounding the project were independently corroborated.
After the report was published, Ubisoft responded by saying that it does not comment on rumors or speculation.
Nintendo has not publicly confirmed the project.
Until either company speaks about it, Goliath should therefore be treated as a reported canceled prototype rather than an officially documented entry in Zelda history.
Still, the circumstances make the story difficult to dismiss as just another random Zelda rumor.
Ubisoft Milan had already spent years working directly with Nintendo’s characters, first on Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and later Sparks of Hope. Ubisoft has openly talked about the close relationship required to create those games, and the studio had experience pitching Nintendo concepts and turning those pitches into working prototypes.
The idea that Nintendo might at least entertain a Zelda proposal from that team isn’t particularly hard to imagine.
The surprising part is who Nintendo reportedly wanted players to control.
A Ganondorf game remains one of Zelda’s biggest unexplored ideas
Nintendo has become increasingly willing to experiment with who gets the starring role in Zelda.
Princess Zelda finally became the playable lead in a traditional top-down adventure with Echoes of Wisdom, while Hyrule Warriors and other spinoffs have allowed players to control characters who would normally remain on the sidelines.
Ganondorf remains different.
Despite being one of Nintendo’s most recognizable villains, we’ve rarely been allowed to see the Zelda world from his perspective outside of combat-focused appearances.
Goliath may never have made it beyond a prototype, but the report raises an interesting question about how close Nintendo came to changing that.
More intriguingly, Nintendo reportedly wasn’t simply willing to tolerate the idea of a Ganondorf game.
It may have been Nintendo’s idea to put him there in the first place.