Several years ago, Nintendo and Ubisoft entered a partnership that led to the creation of two popular games: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017) and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2022). Ubisoft Milan, a branch of the French game developer Ubisoft, was responsible for developing these games, which combined Nintendo’s iconic Mario franchise with Ubisoft’s Rabbids characters. According to a report published by Insider Gaming on September 24, 2026, Ubisoft Milan proposed a more ambitious third project: a The Legend of Zelda spin-off featuring a new character, separate from the series’ traditional hero, Link. However, Nintendo reportedly asked the developers to replace this character with Ganondorf, the main villain of the Zelda series, and ultimately rejected the project by the end of 2023. The project, internally called Goliath, was led by Davide Soliani, who had previously directed the Mario + Rabbids games. Gian Marco Zanna, general director of the new studio Day 4 Night, mentioned in a December 2024 live stream that Soliani aimed to make a major impact in the video game industry. Soliani started working on Goliath in late 2022 with a small team. By early 2023, he believed he had a compelling concept that initially interested Nintendo. However, by late November 2023, the prototype was rejected, though the exact reasons for the rejection remain unclear. After the project was canceled, Nintendo and Ubisoft reportedly explored other Nintendo licenses for Ubisoft Milan to develop, such as Star Fox or a new Mario game. However, these discussions reportedly ended between late 2023 and early 2024. In July 2024, Soliani, along with Zanna and Cristina Nava, left Ubisoft to form their own independent studio, Day 4 Night. The details of Goliath, including its gameplay, storyline, or structure, were not revealed in the Insider Gaming report. The closest Ubisoft game to the Zelda series is Immortals Fenyx Rising (2020), which was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild but developed by Ubisoft Quebec. Nintendo has a history of working with external studios on Zelda projects, such as Koei Tecmo, which created the Hyrule Warriors games. While Goliath was never officially announced or released, its cancellation highlights the collaborative and sometimes uncertain nature of video game development, especially when involving major franchises.