Mario + Rabbids creator says players want unique independent games “willing to tell different stories”
Mario + Rabbids creator Davide Soliani believes players are looking for unique independent games that are “willing to tell different stories”.
Soliani left Ubisoft last year after 25 years at Ubisoft and has now joined with writer Christian Cantamessa (Red Dead Redemption, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the forthcoming Perfect Dark reboot) to form a new studio, Day 4 Night.
Along with other former Ubisoft Milan employees, the pair are working on a new “passion project”, though admitted it’s a risky time in the games industry to be founding a new studio.
“I think stupidity made us,” Cantamessa told VGC, discussing the risk of a new studio. “This industry is really at a crossroads right now. We’ve reached the point where you have massive overheads, you need to recoup those massive investments, and it becomes really hard to sustain.”
He explained the studio’s financing, from publisher Krafton and Ed Fries’ 1Up Ventures, is purely based on stock, meaning the pair have complete creative freedom.
“On one end, you have a situation where everyone is a bit more careful at investing money,” said Soliani. “At the same time, there is a growing interest from the player towards games that are a bit, let’s say, out of the chorus. They are a bit different. They are willing to tell different stories…that’s what we are observing as developers and as players.”
Cantamessa compared the current state of the industry with the collapse of Hollywood and the rise of independent filmmaking. “What you see now is the audience is aligning away from the more studio fare and towards the indie fare,” he said. “So I think maybe we’re in the late 60s, 70s of cinema, and we’re starting to see the Bonnie and Clyde of the video game world.”
As for the new project itself, Soliani said it’s a new IP and while gameplay comes first, it’s “merging with storytelling in a meaningful way”.
Soliani also discussed leaving Ubisoft and assured the decision was not due to poor sales of the Mario + Rabbids Kindgom Battle sequel, Sparks of Hope.
“The reason I left is not because I was trying to get away from Ubisoft for any specific reason, but because I was searching for something that I couldn’t find there… something that we’re now creating together here [at Day 4 Night],” he said.
“For me, Kingdom Battle was a personal project, like the one that we are doing now at Day 4 Night,” he said. “It was really a love letter to Nintendo. It’s not a surprise that I’m a Nintendo lover. In my office, I currently have a huge Mario plushie that my friend sent me from Tokyo.”
Further, Kingdom Battle was a “surprise” success, but that meant the sequel was “harder to develop”. “There was too much overthinking about it all around me,” he said. “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 always will.”
However, Ubisoft’s comments on the game’s reception were “a bit hurtful for the morale of the team” Soliana admitted. “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.”
The announcement of the first Mario + Rabbids game launched Soliani to notoriety as Ubisoft Crying Man.
Ubisoft itself is going through a tumultuous time at the moment. While it has the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the horizon, it closed its UK studio last month and laid off 185 jobs across the business.
The company also looks poised to be sold or taken private, after it was reported Chinese conglomerate Tencent was considering a buyout.