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Star Fox claymation, The Legend of Zelda live-action projects cancelled by Nintendo due to intentional leak by Netflix around 2015
- Thread starter Deleted member 51691
- Start date
- Rumor
"Announcing shit as early as possible" is different from someone leaking the story behind your back before you even have names attached to the project.
It's not spite to decide that someone who is so quick to talk, and without your input, may not be the best partner for a collaboration.
But there were leaks for years on the universal parks having Nintendo property on them.
I dunno about the Star Fox thing, but when the Zelda project was leaked it was in the earliest possible phase. When Variety broke the story, they couldn't even guarantee it would happen. They also noted there were no writers attached.
Looking into it more, Wall Street Journal also reported on this story, and they claimed Netflix was exploring "family friendly Game of Thrones." Yuck.
Yes, but Universal themselves didn't intentionally spread those leaks.
If the people you are potentially working with are already breaking your trust before the project has even started in earnest, that is probably the best time to cut it off. Better than if they continue to do it after you have invested more time and money into it.
Universal didn't spread leaks before the deal was finalized. Nintendo officially announced their partnership with Universal in 2015.
It's not about leaks existing, it's about leaks actively being pushed so early that there weren't even people hired for the project and Nintendo immediately knew who was pushing them.
Regarding Zelda and Netflix, it really isn't that weird to cut ties with another company on a project (especially one in its very early stages) if that company intentionally leaks something ahead of time. It's not a small reason at all.
Yea I wonder if this is more about business trust being broken rather than the actual leak itself.
In what way don't you think Nintendo "cares about money"? Did you read Nintendo's quarterly report yesterday?
I think it's a bit hard to understand for us westerners, but most Asians and Japanese in particular highly value trust and honour in business. Netflix leaked the project on purpose, thus violating that trust bond. It might sound archaic, but it's perfectly reasonable for Nintendo to just cancel the project. I think the reasoning behind this is "you abused my trust for this, what else could you do?"
I mean at that stage of the project, I think most western companies would have the same attitude. Trust isn't an Asian exclusive business practice.
I think discovering that they were even open to a Zelda live-action project is encouraging/interesting.
Fantasy is hot in streaming right now, with everybody scrambling for their "Game of Thrones" (whether that's a smart idea or not is another matter entirely). Maybe Nintendo will go to Amazon Prime or something.
Fantasy is hot in streaming right now, with everybody scrambling for their "Game of Thrones" (whether that's a smart idea or not is another matter entirely). Maybe Nintendo will go to Amazon Prime or something.
It is not something unique to Asia. If your partner doesn't respect you from the beginning, they won't respect you later.
That means that they will do the series as they want, not how you want.
I'm not saying it's exclusive to Asians, I'm just saying that the personal relationship in business, the trust relationship is generally more important than for western companies. I work in sales with huge food and feed multinational corporations, I'm not talking out of my ass :) I just noticed that spending time with your business partner, building a trust bond, is often more important than a written contract. We sometimes sealed deals at dinner with a handshake,something that never happened to me or my colleagues while working with western companies.
Again, I'm not saying that western companies are all made of greedy jackals who will screw you over just for money, just that from all I've experienced, read, heard, it's more important while doing business with Asians. You break that bond, you're done.
I don't know about Asia thing, but I think Netflix often got away with it and thought they have control of this deal. They did this because they thought nobody would cancel a collaboration with Netflix of all companies. Turned out Nintendo thought they can.
Though if you ask both Netflix and Nintendo about this they'll just shrugged at each other and both say "their loss".
Kind of sounds like Nintendo wasn't aware of the realities of working with Hollywood/media companies, where the industry is largely opposite of secrecy in terms of what projects are being worked on or pitched. I mean it's a very typical thing for stuff like this to "leak" in the TV/movie industry.
Definitely a bummer regardless, it's too bad Nintendo hasn't explored expanded media for their franchises with other companies instead.
Definitely a bummer regardless, it's too bad Nintendo hasn't explored expanded media for their franchises with other companies instead.
I dunno, Netflix let official sources report that new Sonic Prime series without leaking it out at a moment's notice so maybe they learned since then lol
If you want to work with a company known for going nuclear on leaks you probably shouldn't immediately go behind their backs and leak the fact that you're even in talks with them.
As i said in the post before, I work in sales. I'm not trying to be a smartass, just saying that my experience (along with countless other colleagues and people who work in sales) while working with Asian companies aligns with Nintendo's behaviour in this particular situation.
"Let's force Nintendo's hand, Deadpool-style, by leaking some cool stuff! They have to do it then!"
Nintendo: "Oh yeah? How about fuck you? How about that?"
True or not, i think a Claymation Starfox series could've been cool. But i think the world dodged a massive bullet regarding a live-action Zelda series.
Nintendo: "Oh yeah? How about fuck you? How about that?"
True or not, i think a Claymation Starfox series could've been cool. But i think the world dodged a massive bullet regarding a live-action Zelda series.
Oh so much more than weeks and months, and breaching an NDA before the ink is even dry is absolutely not a small reason.
Probably, considering it's another Japanese company. Although I imagine SEGA was more gungho about doing something vs Nintendo, so no convincing needed.
In general though it's pretty normal behavior that doesn't end in a deal being blown up. Could just be more that Nintendo wasn't all that interested to begin with.
If anything, that project shows Nintendo is all too happy to announce something like this years in advance.
There was no reason to leak anything.
If this was 2015? I'm pretty sure they were interested. Think about it.
They have a partnership for theme parks and movies with Universal, they had begun negotiations with Netflix for a Zelda series. College Humor for a probable web series for Star Fox, at the same time they had a small CG short series with Pikmin and a short for Star Fox Zero marketing (and a whole production agreement with the Henson Company during E3. This was legitimately the time they were trying to plant seeds for IP expansion.
This breach of trust rained on their plans a bit and scared them off projects, but they recently announced they were willing to take more risks again.
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You see, in my country there is a saga of fantasy books, The Idhun's Memories. The writer had resisted adaptation for years for fear of not having creative control over it. Netflix finally convinced her. And at the last minute, with the voice actors already selected, they changed them for popular celebrities in the country without the slightest ability to transmit anything.
The voices of the series (it is animation) are so bad that it became a meme and finally after finishing the first book of the trilogy the series was canceled due to the terrible reception.
Moral: Don't trust Netflix if you care about the artistic integrity of your property.
The voices of the series (it is animation) are so bad that it became a meme and finally after finishing the first book of the trilogy the series was canceled due to the terrible reception.
Moral: Don't trust Netflix if you care about the artistic integrity of your property.
I believe it
Nintendo goes full baby mode when stuff leaks and cover it up pretty well to stop it from leaking so if it gets out then they'll feel like it's a double loss
Nintendo goes full baby mode when stuff leaks and cover it up pretty well to stop it from leaking so if it gets out then they'll feel like it's a double loss
Trying to get a timeline here. I bet all Netflix had to do was wait just one more month. The live action Zelda leak happened in February of 2015 through WSJ, and the only people would be in the know would be someone higher up at Netflix because it's a deal still in its talks and not yet finalized, and they breached Nintendo's trust doing this. The very next month was Nintendo's Q3 financial results briefing for the end of the fiscal year and they announced as part of their new effort to have their IPs reach to other areas of entertainment with the big announcement of partnering with Universal Studios for amusement parks and movies featuring their IP.
Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action 'Legend of Zelda' Series - WSJ
Third Quarter Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ending March 2015 (nintendo.co.jp)
EDIT: Actually yeah, I really do think they only had to wait one more month because the fiscal year ends in March for many companies, which is the perfect time to announce such new initiatives for the next fiscal.
Double EDIT: I was tired when I wrote this, I mean May, not March. They needed to wait only 2 months.
Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action 'Legend of Zelda' Series - WSJ
Third Quarter Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ending March 2015 (nintendo.co.jp)
EDIT: Actually yeah, I really do think they only had to wait one more month because the fiscal year ends in March for many companies, which is the perfect time to announce such new initiatives for the next fiscal.
Double EDIT: I was tired when I wrote this, I mean May, not March. They needed to wait only 2 months.
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Unavailable the bad takes in this thread. Netflix betrayed Nintendo's trust, they cancel the project and somehow Nintendo is in fault for some posters here. What is wrong with some people here ....
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