20 years later, UBW is still the most popular route

DEEN also wanted to adapt UBW from 2005

>The idea of creating an animated film based on the Unlimited Blade Works story arc of the Fate/stay night visual novel was first suggested to producer Mitsutoshi Ogura of Geneon Entertainment in 2005. At the time, he was organizing the production of the anime series for the same game.[3] Ogura felt that Unlimited Blade Works and Fate – the latter used as the basis for the plot of the series – were the most interesting story arcs in the visual novel.[3] Director Yūji Yamaguchi from Studio Deen had similar opinions, and noted that Unlimited Blade Works had many elements in common with shonen manga, with a large number of bright scenes.[4] He stated that he felt that the plot and dramatic components of the story arc could be conveyed well in cinematic format.[5] As a result, the film-making project was approved immediately after the work on the 2006 TV series was completed, and producer Norimitsu Urasaki joined the project

After Zero released, Aniplex also wanted UBW.

>当初はFateルートをアニメ化する予定だったが、スタッフ内では、どのルートにするか意見が割れていた(全ルート派「奈須・武内」、UBW派「アニプレックス岩上P」、HF派「キャラクターデザイン須藤、三浦監督」)。
>At first when the Ufotable Fate/stay night anime was planned, there were different ideas of what to do. Nasu and Takeuchi wanted all routes, Iwakami from Aniplex wanted UBW while Miura and Sudo wanted HF.

>Kondo: I kept saying that if we're going to do Fate/stay night's Unlimited Blade Works scenario, we need to draw Shirou cooly, and that's the show's success hinged on Shirou becoming a main character. Miura went so far to say that we had to make it his coming-of-age story.

Daisuke Moriyama wanted to make an UBW manga for years and Nasu kept rejecting it until one day he said

>okay do whatever you want i don't care