Davide Soliani, who spearheaded the successful Mario + Rabbids series of games, has left Ubisoft after 25 years.
In a social media post, the former Ubisoft Milan creative director said he had left the company “to embark on a new adventure,” but failed to say what’s next.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is an enormously successful Nintendo Switch exclusive that fused Nintendo's Mario and Ubisoft's Rabbids franchises in turn-based tactics gameplay. The 2017 game would eventually be played by over 10 million people, Ubisoft said.
Hi all folks. After 25 years, 11 of which 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. I can't say more now. Thanks a lot for everything, truly 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/nafgBC2bu8
— Davide Soliani (@DavideSoliani) July 24, 2024
Soliani was thrust into the spotlight after he wept during the Mario + Rabbids reveal at Ubisoft’s E3 2017 showcase. His reaction, which you can see in the video below, has gone down as one of the all-time great E3 moments, a rare look of genuine pride and relief captured in the audience of a show normally given over to strictly controlled marketing beats.
Kingdom Battle’s successor, fellow Switch exclusive Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, performed less well upon its 2022 launch. Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot later revealed his regret at launching the game on the Switch instead of holding it back for the console’s successor, saying Sparks of Hope would have likely performed better if it had not released on the same platform as the first game, given they offer similar gameplay experiences.
"We had already released a Mario Rabbids game [on Switch], so by doing another we had two similar experiences on one machine," Guillemot told GI.biz.
"On Nintendo, games like this never die. There are 25 Mario games on Switch. Nintendo [has advised] that it's better to do one iteration on each machine," Guillemot continued. "We were a bit too early, we should have waited for [the next console].
"Because you could play a great game. And we think it will last for 10 years, because we will update it for the new machine that will come in the future."
Ubisoft Milan, which is currently supporting the development of other Ubisoft games, such as Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars: Outlaws, waved goodbye to Soliani in a series of tweets.
And we hope that he will like what we will work on in the future, as we will definitely keep in mind his best teaching: surprise players with unexpected experiences!
— Ubisoft Milan (@UbisoftMilan) July 24, 2024
“Don’t cry, Ubisoft man!” We joked with Davide a lot about that meme.
But now it’s our time to cry. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/9W4vdZXbjV
Davide and the teams at Ubisoft Milan still share the same quest -- to make gamers have fun, scream with delight, and dream – but we will now be on a different path.
— Ubisoft Milan (@UbisoftMilan) July 24, 2024
Before the tears at E3 2017, the announcement of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and the crazy idea... pic.twitter.com/uNji1B6nOX
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
