Gameindustry.biz got the chance to catch up with some developers who are working on the upcoming Nintendo Switch title Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. In the run up to this years E3 event, leaks started to appear online and needless to say; reactions were definitely of a mixed variety. Davide Soliani, creative director for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, spoke about how the leaks affected the team at Ubisoft because of the reactions they were seeing from the public:
“When the game leaks, no one is happy,” Soliani says. “Also, let’s be honest, the reaction at the beginning was not ‘sceptical’ – it was a little bit worse than that. It was quite hard on the team morale to read some of those comments. I asked for Grant’s opinion, [since he] has way more experience than me. ‘Do you think they will love it? Do you think they will hate us? Do you think that we’ve done everything wrong?’ I was very, very worried. Because, you know, people on the internet can be very, very, very harsh.”
Grant continues: “Davide was completely panicking. I kept saying to him not to worry and that everyone was going to love it.”
You can read the full interview here.
Aw I feel for them. There were some unnecessarily rude comments, but I guess that’s the internet. The idea of the game was odd and took many by surprise but I feel like some people were just hating to hate. If that makes sense?
I also feel bad for them, a little, but they did create the hiddious things found in children’s nightmares. WTF did they expect, with the only thing people having was a scary as hell image?
I really don’t know how they expected any other kind of reaction.
First of all it isnt like they planned the leaks…second of all the Rabbids are quite popular in France and other European countries. I mean on Nickelodeon they had a show for like 5 years (ended in June)
Exactly, the leaks we’re not planned, so the reactions were to limited info, mostly images, like I said.
And Teletubbies are popular in European countries also, that doesn’t make them any less scary.
And if what you said is true, about Rabbids being popular in European countries, and knowing there was a really bad reaction, maybe the devs do have something to worry about.
I’m basically a Rabbid when I don’t have coffee at work in the morning.
I’m a rabbid when i DO have coffee lol >_<
Haha, so is my boss. When she has coffee, I dig into my desk like a bunker and hope she stays away. XD.
She knows this about herself and limits her coffee, but God help her husband. She’s like a fucking magwi being fed after midnight if she has coffee! DX
I would not relax just yet.
The game will not release until late august, and that will be when the real test comes…
I do not necessarily think the game will turn out bad, but if it will be “good” is a different matter.
Ubi may have actually created a console seller with this one. This is the only Ubi game I’m looking forward to and one of my most anticipated Switch games too. Good job Ubi, I don’t hate you as much as before.
Ubi is now a rank above Capcom, but that’s still pretty far down the poll in my list, none the less they are getting better, now PLEASE don’t screw this up with bullsh!t dlc and other useless cash grab crap!
Capcom really lost value when they stopped making Mega Man games. I still hurt for Legends 3.
I dunno, the Mighty No. 9 sales made it look like nobody really wanted any more Mega Man kind of games.
The comments before the official reveal were frankly ridiculous. Mario and Rabbids was always going to be a fun combination with plenty of potential for humour, and it was nice to see Nintendo doing something like this with their IP. The only surprise from the official reveal then was the fantastic polish that this game would appear to have, not unlike had it been made by Nintendo themselves.
I can’t remember my comment back when this was first leaked. *shrug* Oh well.
Oh yeah! I do remember not liking the selfie crap with the Peach Rabbid back then. But since the real Peach is in the game & NOT doing that bullshit, too, I just chalk it up to the rabbid just being a rabbid.
I was extremely critical of the disgusting white creatures during the time of leaking… I still detest the monsters… But sometimes you forget the real human toll negative opinion can have on developers. I am ashamed.
I’m not. This is part of the career they chose. Better have some really thick skin if you want to be a developer, actor, director, etc because the negative comments are gonna come sooner or later.
That doesn’t make the comments justified.
Oh but they are. In this business, if people don’t like what you are doing, you won’t be making money. These people need to hear the negative or they won’t make better decisions later.
Now if you are the type to post things like wishing for them or their family & friends to die, get raped, or other extremely horrible things, then you should feel ashamed.
Why did that even come up?
Because it means your negative opinions like “this product is shit” is not nearly as bad as you might think as there are opinions far, far worse.
Bullshit.
Companies leak this stuff themselves all the time to measure the public’s reaction before the official announcement.
It’s obvious Ubisoft was having doubts on this game, so they leaked it to know if they should spearhead their E3 conference with it (Like they did), or relegate it to the last minute.