Source is TheMarySue.com (Full article here)

Author is Jessica Lachenal

Explanation for Lack of Female Hero in Zelda: Breath of the Wild Doesn’t Add Up

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According to a chat with GameSpot, Eiji Aonuma, a producer at Nintendo, said that “We thought about it, and decided that if we’re going to have a female protagonist, it’s simpler to have Princess Zelda as the main character.” [...] Aonuma went on to explain, “…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 implication here is that the creative team worried more about Link’s story and identity rather than Zelda’s. It boiled down to a question that sounds a lot like, “But what about the man,” the inverse of which (“But what about the woman”) is a question that women have long since wondered to themselves. Even then, this reasoning doesn’t exclude the idea of a female version of the Hero, or Link. It might exclude the idea of Princess Zelda as a protagonist (disappointing), but how does this prevent them from creating a new character to play the hero?

The statement about “the idea of the balance of the Triforce” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, either, and it’s hard to gather why that would also be a factor in why they didn’t include a female Link. [...] The reason just feels arbitrary, rather than thought-out or even considered.

During Nintendo Treehouse E3 Live event, much was said about defying past Zelda norms and tropes. If you ask me, one great way of actually defying those norms would be to add a female hero. [...] However, it seems like we’re a long way off from seeing a character like Linkle fronting her own Zelda game at Nintendo.

Considering most Zelda stories are non-gender-specific anyway (and given Link’s often much-parodied androgynous appearance), how much effort would it really take to build a female hero, someone that isn’t just head-canonically female but actually female?

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Thoughts on this?

Jim Sterling's take on this is best.

Honestly, I wish Nintendo was just honest. You don't want to make a game with a female lead? Fine. Just say that. Your excuses are lame and make ZERO sense.

It's bizarre what Nintendo is conservative about vs what they CONSTANTLY try to change. They always want to come up with new controls and controllers, but they are relatively stagnant in all other aspects.