Zelda Fans Petition for a Character Named after Robin Williams, Nintendo Responds

For those who haven’t been on the internet or watching any sort of news channel of late, Robin Williams has died from an apparent suicide. Many were saddened by his death and were wondering how we could possibly memorialize him and make him a permanent fixture of something he loved. Fans put together a petition for Nintendo to create a character and name it after Robin Williams in a future Zelda games. That petition at the time of this writing has 101,788 supporters. Polygon decided to ask Nintendo if they were going to listen to the fanbase on this, and surprisingly Nintendo responded.

“Robin Williams was loved at Nintendo.” offered a Nintendo spokesperson. “Our hearts go out to his entire family, and especially to Zelda Williams who we’ve worked with multiple times.”

“We appreciate the outpouring of support from the gaming community, and hear the request of fans to honor him in a future game. We will not be discussing what might be possible for future games during this difficult time, but we will hold our memories of Robin close.”

This feels like a fairly fitting response from Nintendo during this difficult time. While it is understandable why fans wish to make this sort of nod to his life and arguably to his daughter, Zelda Williams, it is equally understandable why Nintendo doesn’t wish to talk about such a thing at this time. The focus should be on showing our love and support to the Williams family at this time. We can address the best way to remember Robin Williams at a future date. Essentially… Nintendo isn’t saying no, they are simply saying they don’t think now is the right time to talk about that.

You can of course feel free to support the petition. While Reggie has previously said Nintendo doesn’t make decisions based on fan petitions… this is a very emotional and unique situation where an exception could easily be made. Our hearts still go out to the Williams family during this difficult time.

Source: Gamnesia