Mario + Rabbids director Davide Soliani announced on Wednesday that he has left the publisher’s Milan studio after working for 25 years at the French company. Ubisoft, in response, wishes him all the best in his future career and says it’s their “turn to cry this time.”
“After 25 years, 11 of which [were] beautifully spent working with Nintendo on Mario+Rabbids along the company of our incredible community of players, I have decided to leave Ubisoft to embark on a new adventure,” said Soliani on X. He says he can’t tell us what he’s doing next, but after the love and attention given to the Mario + Rabbids series, it would be brilliant if he joins Nintendo in some shape or form.
If you can’t remember who Soliani is, he is the director who sat in the E3 audience while Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and his boss Yves Guillemot announced their unique collaboration. The camera changed to Soliani as Miyamoto praised the emotional developer.
“I said whatever you do, don’t try to make a jump game or a Mario platformer; try to make a Mario game that has never been made before, and it’s great,” said Miyamoto during the reveal, recounting his conversations with Soliani.
Unfortunately, the sequel Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope didn’t seem to perform well in 2022. “Despite excellent ratings and players’ reception as well as an ambitious marketing plan, we were surprised by Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope’s underperformance in the final weeks of 2022,” said a Ubisoft financial report. It was later reported that the game went on to sell nearly three million copies, according to VGC, which seems admittedly impressive for a Mario spinoff.
“Kingdom Battle may have proven that a Mario and Rabbids crossover can work, and work well,” read our review. “But Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope has cemented this as a franchise in my eyes, one that is worth playing if you’ve got any interest in lighthearted tactics with a Mario and Rabbid twist.” Unfortunately, it seems likely the franchise won’t continue unless the ongoing sales of the sequel impressed Ubisoft, which has bigger titles like Star Wars Outlaws just around the corner.”
