Summary
Davide Soliani, the director who helmed bothMario + Rabbidscrossover titles for Ubisoft, has expressed interest in collaborating with Nintendo again. The Italian veteran, who currently operates his indie studio Day 4 Night, worked at Ubisoft for over two decades and most notably shippedMario + Rabbids Kingdom BattleandMario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.
After an eventful tenure,Soliani left Ubisoftin search of greener pastures in July 2024. This move came less than a year after the final DLC for 2022’sMario + Rabbids Sparks of Hoperolled out. Despite being critically praised like the 2017 original, the sequel was deemed to be falling behind sales expectations at launch by the French gaming giant. Importantly, both instances offered Soliani, a longtime Nintendo fan, the opportunity to partner with theMariocreator for the development of the Switch-exclusive crossover projects. Recently, the former Ubisoft dev reminisced about the time spent working with the Japanese industry titan and made clear his thoughts about a potential reunion.
In an interview withVGC, Day 4 Night Studios Co-Founder Davide Soliani revealed that he and fellow co-founder, Christian Cantamessa, would be open to teaming up with Nintendo in the future. He said, “My new company is an indie studio, so if one day Nintendo wants to knock on our door, I think that me and Christian are going to answer.” During the same talk, he recalled his days working on thefirstMario + Rabbidsgame, highlighting that the title was “a personal project” and “a love letter” to the console giant. The former Ubisoft lead also stated that the 11 years of his career that involved collaborating with Nintendo were “the most important” for him. He underlined how it was a crucial period for him, not just “emotionally,” but also for his experience in “learning” and “collaborating.”
The latest comments from Soliani about a possible Nintendo collaboration all but confirm that he would welcome such an arrangement with open arms. For longtimeMario + Rabbidsfans who remember seeing theUbisoft alumnus get emotionalwhen Nintendo legend Miyamoto announced his game back in the day, his opinion about the Japan-based company may not come as a surprise at all. When asked about why the Switch maker had not recruited him yet, Soliani amusingly told the source, “You should ask Nintendo that question!”
In the meantime, theMario + Rabbids Sparks of Hopedirectoris focused on his “passion project” at his new studio, which was established in October 2024. While not enough is known about Day 4 Night’s debut title, it has previously been described as an entirely original game, bringing a refreshing change for Soliani after back-to-back collaborative works. As the year unfolds, it may be fair to expect this project to take shape to a point where more information about it could be dished out.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
WHERE TO PLAY
This is the story of an unexpected encounter between Mario and the irreverent Rabbids. To bring order back to a splintered Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Yoshi team up with Rabbids heroes in a journey through four different worlds.Embark with your team of eight heroes on an epic quest to free your friends and put the Mushroom Kingdom back in order! Explore four iconic worlds filled with chests and secrets, solve puzzles, and defeat unpredictable enemies on the battlefield.Mario and his friends will use never-before-seen weapons to engage in combat with their foes. With an arsenal of hundreds of unique weapons, players will choose how best to equip each of their eight heroes. Play additional co-op challenges with a friend in local multiplayer, featuring three levels of difficulty.
