That isn't the problem, the problem is the bullshit explination as to why link can' be female. Also " not every franchise doesn't need a female protagonist " is a weird ass statement to begin with when most media on the planet don't have female protagonists.
You don't need to bring that up because most of them don't and that fucking problem,
Nintendo owns the IP, they can do whatever the hell they want with it. If they want him to be a guy forever (or at least until someone decides to do a canon, female Link), that's their call.
I'm all for getting more female protagonists in games (although they need to be in games that do well, in order to avoid Paul Marketing saying they're a negative factor), but calling for gender swaps of existing characters isn't the right way to do it. The best case scenario will be that people like it, because it's good, but the worst case scenario, which is the one you
need to plan for, is that you fuck it up
hard and get a ton of negativity for your game.
It's harder to come up with something new instead of just tweaking something to fit your desires, and that's part of why people get annoyed by gender swapped characters in some franchises. Asking for the gender swap is a sign that you don't have an actual idea that can be built on, just a desire to have things your way and fuck the people who disagree, which results in the people asking for the gender swap getting no respect.
Respect must be earned, through good games with female protagonists, not by taking shortcuts that look like "progress," but are just bandaids that make people feel better.
