Nintendo Advised Ubisoft To Release Mario + Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope On Switch’s Successor

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope did not live up to the hype that surrounded it after the staggering success of the initial release, and the reason has reportedly been confirmed by Ubisoft. The company’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, appeared in an interview with GamesIndustry, discussing the cause behind the sequel falling behind the devs’ expectations despite good reviews. The CEO also confirms drops a hint regarding Nintendo’s next console.

While continuing the topic, the CEO officially slips out the existence of the new Nintendo console brewing behind closed curtains. As per Yves, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope was just not ready for the limited hardware present in the Switch, and releasing the entry on the next iteration of Switch’s successor would have been a wiser choice. The Mario + Rabbids sequel failed to perform as expected due to the Switch’s hardware limits.

Nintendo [has advised] that it’s better to do one iteration on each machine. We were a bit too early, we should have waited for [the next console].”

Ubisoft CEO also argues that the team had already churned out a Mario Rabbids game on the portable, and releasing its sequel may have caused users to feel a lot of similarity between the two on a single console. Another reason the title got overshadowed could also be connected with the Switch already having 25 Mario titles. Yves assures us that Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope will receive a re-release on the next Nintendo console.

We had already released a Mario Rabbids game [on Switch], so by doing another we had two similar experiences on one machine. […] Because you could play a great game. And we think it will last for ten years, because we will update it for the new machine that will come in the future.”

Nintendo’s strategy has always ensured that its Mario games do not end up clashing with one another, as it quite rarely ever releases two Mario entries in the same generation of consoles. It’s perhaps why it advised Ubisoft not to release it on the current console. For instance, Mario Kart only had a single release on the Switch despite the huge wishes of the fans for another entry; Nintendo has stuck around with adding content for it instead.

Regardless, the advice by the giant company could also have been made due to the aged hardware of the Switch. It is possible that Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope had to scale down several features to become a smooth experience on the handheld. The title has seemingly suffered many setbacks, causing the series’ future to look bleak.

The Ubisoft CEO’s words do not suggest that the quality of the game is the driving factor for causing its mundane performance, and it was possibly just a bad time to release. It may work on a new sequel in the future, and the news of a new upgrade for the next Nintendo console may help the franchise gain popularity again. 

Not a lot is known about the new Nintendo console, but we know it is likely targeting a 2024-2025 release date as per many rumors. Moreover, the giant conglomerate is apparently already in talks with suppliers for the production of the next consoles. 

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