Fan-Made Zelda Animated Series Canceled, But Not at Nintendo's Request

The crowdfunding campaign for an unlicensed Legend of Zelda animated series has been canceled, but Nintendo apparently had nothing to do with it. Producer Michael Patch writes on Facebook that Nintendo never sent a cease and desist order. Instead, he's ended the project as a result of community feedback.

"Though I have not received a [cease and desist order], out of respect for Nintendo, and due to few incriminating crowds, (though it was maybe only 30% of people who commented) I am ending the Zeldamotion journey," he said. "To the other 70% of you, I give you my sincerest thanks. You made me feel like I was more than just some guy making fan art. You are the ones I did this for."

The Zelda movie was to be a continuation of the work Patch and his production studio, Aeipathy Industries, did on the Zeldamotion YouTube series. Nintendo doesn't always block fan-made creations of that kind. But the difference with Patch's new animated series is that he was asking for money ($24,000) on Kickstarter.

It's probable that Nintendo would have eventually come down on the project had it gotten further along and gained more attention. Although Patch says Nintendo never got in touch, what's left of the project's Kickstarter page states that the series "is the subject of an intellectual property dispute."

We have followed up with Nintendo to find out if Nintendo was aware of the project or has any other details to share

The cancellation of the Zelda series comes after Patch launched an informal survey earlier this week that asked if people would like to see the project move forward. The overwhelming majority of people said they didn't want the campaign to continue.

Earlier this year, a report claimed that Nintendo was working with Netflix on a live-action Zelda show. However, it didn't take long before Nintendo said you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet.