Key Takeaways
- Nintendo and Ubisoft Milan secretly developed a Zelda spin-off codenamed Project Goliath, starring Ganondorf as the playable protagonist.
- The game was originally pitched with a brand-new character — Nintendo itself asked for Ganondorf to replace them.
- Ubisoft Milan’s Davide Soliani — the director behind Mario + Rabbids — led the prototype development, which Nintendo rejected in late November 2023.
- After Goliath fell through, talks between Nintendo and Ubisoft fizzled out entirely — a Star Fox game was rumored to have been considered next, but nothing came of it.
- A separate rumored 2D Zelda game codenamed “Bernard,” targeting 2027, is reportedly in development at Nintendo and Grezzo — and could also feature Ganondorf as the lead.
Of all the canceled games that never got announced, let alone released, this one hurts the most to hear about. Nintendo and Ubisoft were apparently this close to giving us a Zelda game where you play as Ganondorf — a villain-led spin-off that could’ve been one of the most unique entries in the entire franchise. It didn’t happen. But now, thanks to a major new report from Insider Gaming, we finally know the full story of how it came together, and why it fell apart.
What Was Project Goliath?
The canceled game was an internal project at Ubisoft Milan codenamed Project Goliath. According to Insider Gaming’s report — which was built on more than 18 months of research for an upcoming book about canceled games — the project started taking shape in 2022, following the release of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.
Ubisoft Milan had already proven it could handle Nintendo’s most beloved IP with care. The two Mario + Rabbids games were critically well-received, and discussions about what to work on next started happening shortly after Sparks of Hope launched. Rather than go for a third Mario + Rabbids, the team wanted to aim bigger — and they landed on the idea of a brand-new Legend of Zelda spin-off set in Hyrule’s world.
The pitch was for a completely original concept featuring a never-before-seen protagonist. The codename “Goliath” reflected how ambitious the project was intended to be in scope. By early 2023, the Ubisoft Milan team had their pitch ready and brought it to Nintendo.
Nintendo Changed the Main Character to Ganondorf
Here’s where things get genuinely fascinating. Nintendo didn’t just greenlight Ubisoft’s original pitch — it actually asked for a significant change before development could begin. According to sources cited in the Insider Gaming report, Nintendo liked the concept but specifically requested that the original protagonist be replaced with Ganondorf.
Let that sink in. It wasn’t Ubisoft that came up with the idea of a Ganondorf-led game. Nintendo — the company that guards its IP more closely than almost anyone in the industry — was the one pushing for one of its most iconic villains to headline a spin-off. That says a lot about how seriously the idea was being considered internally.
The lead on the Ubisoft side was Davide Soliani, the creative director behind both Mario + Rabbids games and a nearly 25-year Ubisoft veteran. He and a small team got to work building out a prototype that would serve as the game’s next major greenlight checkpoint.
Nintendo Rejected the Prototype in Late 2023 — And Nobody Knows Why
This is where the story turns. Ubisoft Milan had a deadline of around the end of 2023 to deliver a compelling prototype. The team worked through the year, and in late November 2023, they presented the prototype to Nintendo — which rejected it.
The reason? Still unknown. Nobody involved has confirmed publicly why Nintendo passed on what they saw. Was it a gameplay direction issue? A tone problem? A difference in creative vision? The report doesn’t have the answer, and neither Nintendo nor Ubisoft has officially commented on any of this. The whole story is based on sources familiar with the project, so as always, treat it with appropriate skepticism — though Insider Gaming has a solid track record with this kind of reporting.
After the rejection, the collaboration between Ubisoft Milan and Nintendo didn’t immediately collapse — but it was clearly on shaky ground. Discussions reportedly started up again about potentially working on a different Nintendo franchise together. Internal rumors within the studio pointed to a Star Fox game or another Mario universe project as possibilities, but those talks eventually fizzled out too, somewhere between late 2023 and early 2024.
What Happened to the Team After Goliath?
The end of Project Goliath had real consequences for the people involved. The Ubisoft Milan team was scattered across the company’s other projects, with some developers left without clear assignments for a period. Eventually, Davide Soliani and several key colleagues — including producer Cristina Nava and veterans Gian Marco Zanna and Luca Breda — made the decision to leave Ubisoft entirely.
In October 2024, Soliani officially announced his departure after 25 years with Ubisoft — 11 of which were spent working with Nintendo on the Mario + Rabbids games. He, Cantamessa, and their co-founders established an independent studio called Day 4 Night, with offices in Milan, California, and Los Angeles. The studio received funding from Ed Fries’ 1Up Ventures and is focused on “delivering deeply heartfelt and original games” in a new IP. It’s genuinely one of the better second acts in recent gaming history, even if losing their shot at Project Goliath still stings in retrospect.
Why a Ganondorf Game Makes Total Sense for Zelda
The concept of playing as Ganondorf isn’t as far out as it might initially sound — especially given where Nintendo has been taking the Zelda franchise recently. The series has been increasingly willing to step outside its traditional Link-led formula. Hyrule Warriors gave players a massive roster of characters. The Tingle games on DS did something genuinely weird and beloved in their own right. And in 2024, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom made Princess Zelda herself the protagonist for the first time in a mainline Zelda title — and it worked beautifully.
Ganondorf is one of the most recognizable villains in gaming. He’s been the final boss of so many iconic Zelda entries that players already have a deep emotional connection to him. A game exploring his story — his origins as the Gerudo king, his transformation into the King of Evil, what drives him — could be genuinely compelling in ways that a standard Link-led adventure simply couldn’t be. The idea that Nintendo itself was pushing for this concept makes it even more believable that there’s real creative interest internally in going there.
The history of Zelda spin-offs with unconventional leads is also worth noting here. Nintendo has shown before that it’ll hand the keys to someone outside the main trio when the concept is strong enough — which only adds to the disappointment that Project Goliath never made it past prototype stage.
Could Ganondorf Still Get His Own Game? The 2027 Rumors
Despite Project Goliath being dead and buried, there’s actually a separate rumor circulating that strongly suggests Nintendo’s interest in a Ganondorf-led game didn’t die with it. Back in May 2026, known leaker Nash Weedle claimed Nintendo is working on a brand-new 2D Zelda title — codenamed “Bernard” — potentially targeting a 2027 release and co-developed with Grezzo, the studio behind the Link’s Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom.
The Ganondorf connection here comes from the codename itself. Weedle noted that Grezzo has previously used European king names as internal codenames for its Zelda projects — the Link’s Awakening remake was reportedly codenamed “Richard” (tied to courage) and Echoes of Wisdom was “Edward” (tied to wisdom). “Bernard” — most associated with King Bernard of Italy, known for a rebellion against Emperor Louis I — fits neatly into the Triforce theme as a nod to power, which has always been Ganondorf’s domain.
The rumored game is also reportedly built on the same engine used for the recent 2D Zelda titles, which would make a 2027 release genuinely feasible. Nintendo has not confirmed any of this, and the game hasn’t been announced. Weedle has a solid (though not perfect) track record with Nintendo leaks — he was correct about the Resident Evil 7 Switch 2 port and several other developments — so this is worth watching, but not worth treating as settled fact just yet.
What we can say is this: the fact that Nintendo was pushing for Ganondorf to be in the Ubisoft game makes the 2027 leak feel a lot more credible. Nintendo doesn’t just casually ask developers to build prototypes around a character unless it genuinely sees potential there. If the internal appetite for a Ganondorf-led Zelda game is real — and Project Goliath suggests it is — then the “Bernard” codename rumor starts looking less like a stretch and more like a natural next step.
Sheik Almost Got This Treatment Too
It’s also worth noting that Project Goliath isn’t the only alternate-protagonist Zelda game that never made it. There are reports that during the Wii era, Retro Studios — the team behind the Metroid Prime series — had a Sheik-focused Zelda project in development known internally as Project X. That one also got canceled, leaving another fascinating what-if hanging over the franchise’s history.
Nintendo’s willingness to explore these ideas behind closed doors is genuinely interesting. We know they’ve considered it with Sheik, we now know they greenlit a Ganondorf prototype at Ubisoft, and leaks are pointing toward a Ganondorf game in 2027. Sooner or later, one of these alternate-protagonist Zelda concepts is going to get made.
Final Thoughts
Project Goliath is the kind of canceled game story that’s going to live in gaming history as a proper “what could have been.” A Zelda spin-off — built by the same studio that delivered two legitimately great Mario + Rabbids games — where you play as Ganondorf, with Nintendo actively pushing for that direction. It had all the ingredients for something special, and it never made it past prototype.
The silver lining is that the team behind it went on to build something new at Day 4 Night, Nintendo’s interest in Ganondorf as a protagonist appears to still be alive based on the 2027 leaks, and the story of Ubisoft’s ambitious-but-troubled projects continues to be one of the most compelling in gaming. For now, Project Goliath joins a long list of games we’ll never get to play — but at least we finally know the story of why.
For more on what’s happening in the gaming world, check out our breakdown of Xbox’s new Mythic Achievement system and our look at the Xbox September 2026 console update. And if you want the full scoop on what came out earlier this year, here are the best WoW profession discoveries you might have missed.
