Nintendo's ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild’ Won’t Have A Female Protagonist

Video game publisher Nintendo announced the next Legend of Zelda game, dubbed "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" at the E3 2016 gaming conference on Tuesday.

While, gamers were speculating that the upcoming Legend of Zelda game might offer them an option to play as a female character, the same didn't happen.

When Gamespot asked Nintendo producer Eiji Aonuma if the rumors of having the option to play as a female version of Link were accurate, he said that they considered the option about how they could incorporate a female character. But, ultimately they decided not to have a female hero in the game as the option didn't make sense to them.

"We thought about it," said Aonuma, "and decided that if we're going to have a female protagonist, it's simpler to have Princess Zelda as the main character."

Explaining the reason for rejecting the idea, Aonuma said, "if we have Princess Zelda as the main character who fights, then what is Link going to do? Taking into account that, and also the idea of the balance of the Triforce, we thought it best to come back to this [original] makeup."

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" will be launched for both Wii U and Nintendo's next system, code-named NX, in 2017.

In related news, thousands of fans have started an online petition requesting Nintendo to immortalize the pop singer Christina Grimmie in the next Legend of Zelda game. The Change.org petition to add Grimmie as an NPC in the next Zelda game was initiated by Ian Tan.

The 22-year-old singer was shot dead while signing autographs after her performance in Orlando on June 10. She breathe her last on June 11.

"There is an upcoming Legend of Zelda game poised for release in 2017. I want to propose the possibility of naming a character after Christina Grimmie when the English version is released. Hopefully she is in a better place now, but whether a NPC or mentioned in an Easter egg, it would be a beautiful act to let her be memorialized in the universe she always cherished," a portion of the petition reads.

As of now, the petition has collected nearly 33,600 of the now-needed 35,000 digital signatures from supporters.