Petition to Nintendo for Robin Williams NPC Receives a Response

After the unfortunate death of Robin Williams, a man called Nick Schaedel created a petition on Change.org to ask Nintendo of America to name an NPC in the next The Legend of Zelda title after the actor. Nothing grandiose, just an NPC named Robin when the game is translated. It's hardly the only tribute in gaming, with World of Warcraft putting something in-game in his memory.

The reason behind the sentiment was that Robin Williams was such a fan of the series, that he named his daughter Zelda. The two had even done advertising for Nintendo, with 2011 seeing them in several adverts for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.

Before the petition had even reached the 100,000 mark, let alone its goal of 150,000, Nintendo reached out to Polygon saying:

"Robin Williams was loved at Nintendo. 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."

- Nintendo statement

According to Nick, that is really all he was looking for with this petition - some acknowledgement:

It's a lovely sentiment. I noted in my last update that Nintendo making a statement was in my mind a wonderful outcome, and I still believe that. Nintendo has acknowledged the impact that Robin Williams had on the gaming world and on their community. They have also not ruled out the possibility of naming a character in tribute, so we'll see what happens. It may come to pass, it may not. That's okay.

- Nick Schaedel, petition creator

Of course, you can still head over and sign the petition if you wish.