Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope co-creator Davide Soliani has told VGC in a recent interview that Ubisoft’s comments about the sequel underperforming really hurt the team’s morale. Soliani also confessed that Sparks of Hope was “way harder to develop” than the original game with its bigger and broader scope. A number of reviews criticised the sequel for its performance issues on the ailing Switch platform.
“The message that we received about how the game was faring was a bit hurtful for the morale of the team. because we just finished working for three and a half years and were super committed to creating a very good game. So, of course, it was not the kind of message that we wanted to receive back in those days.”
“It was a bit hurtful, but nothing crazy. I think that’s normal… every development team is proud of what they are doing and always searching for encouraging words, which in that situation, was maybe needed. It was a bit harsh on the team, but nothing that we didn’t solve by talking internally back when we were in the company.”
“Because the first one was a big success, Sparks of Hope was way harder to develop than Kingdom Battle.
“There was too much overthinking about it all around me. So to me it was a bit… it was still a joy, it was a wonderful experience because I always loved working with Nintendo and I will always will.”
Thanks to Greatsong1 for the news tip!
Maybe he shouldn’t have changed all the stuff that made the first one so great (more Mario stuff, less Rabbids, grid based combat, a story that actually made sense) and it probably wouldn’t sold more and had a longer tail to it.
I didn’t like the rabbits talking
It’s objectively better than how they used to sound.
There were many big mistakes made in the video game industry. Adding voice overs to the Lego games & now making Rabbids talk are two of those many.
All the changes were made for the better(except for the less Nintendo stuff). This is purely a case of Ubisoft having unrealistic expectations.
It was not good actually. All the changes, every single one, ruined what was a great game.
The first game also released early on the Switch when there weren’t many games on the platform, no doubt adding to sales numbers. But the second game had a lot of competition like Fire Emblem as an example by the time it released.
It was a fun game, but too visually ambitious while also abandoning the clean sharp look of the first game. I remember 2 of the worlds werent very visually distinct which made them a bit boring to play. Also the battles being in seperate arenas with loading screens wasnt very fun
Cry me a river.
Ubisoft is dead.
Here’s hoping AC Shadows flops hard so Ubisoft will go away
Such a shame. It was an absolutely wonderful game. I could have seen it getting a booming performance if it came out on Switch 2 in its first or 2nd year. Still so happy it exists and came out; hopefully it finds a second wave of life if re-bundled or re-released on Switch 2, or the clearly massively talented and awesomesauce team gets another shot at a Mario or Nintendo IP. Love Davide Soliani, Kirkhope & Co.
It was a great sequel. I prefer grid-based combat for SRPGs, but that’s just me (no knock on the game). I was really hoping it would do well, because the scale was impressive and I loved what they were doing overall.
It was a fun game, but as mentioned in the article they overdid it. Just about anyone I talk to who actually played these games instead of ignorantly saying the Rabbids caused them some kind of harm (grow up), always says the first game was objectively better, and it was. The second one of the same problems all sequels seem to have; they went bigger, added more systems to the core gameplay, and made too many changes that alienated fans of the first game.
I do hope we see a 3rd entry on Switch 2 though.
I prefer this second one, I beat it fully, bit of a chore sometimes. But the first I’ve still not finished, I don’t like the camera in the battles, and actually the whole battle system is less interesting.
I loved Sparks of Hope from start to finish, almost everything I loved about it, the sparks, giving the rabbids voices allowed them to evolve and become more than just rabbids with the Mario gang’s clothes. I also appreciated that no part members shared any weapons with each other, everyone had their own class. I only wish there were more to Bowser’s roster of possessed minions, we only had Goombas, Bob-ombs, and Magikoopas, this game would’ve been perfect for the koopa, hammer bro species, lakitu & spiny, and maybe even piranha plant. His minion roster was severely lacking considering he’s going out into the universe to save his army.