Ubisoft loses 25-year veteran, Davide Soliani

Davide Soliani, the lead behind Mario + Rabbids has left Ubisoft to “embark on a new adventure.” He’s worked for the French developer for the past 25 years.

Updating the wider community on Twitter, Soliani thanked the community and noted he couldn’t say anything more than he had already. Working for Ubisoft Milan, he is most known for his involvement as the creative lead behind Mario + Rabbids, which, according to VGC, reached 10 million players since 2017. Its 2022 sequel — Sparks of Hope — also fostered strong sales, sitting at over three million sales.

While Sparks of Hope did sell poorly during its release window, it did pick up later on, which is in line with the expectations of producer Cristina Nava had, according to VGC. The game was a turn-based tactical adventure, so obviously, that’s a slow-burner genre. It didn’t meet expectations at the start.

Now, the studio is working alongside Massive Entertainment to get Star Wars Outlaws out the door. The game did just recently get a general gameplay showcase recently and players are worried it’s not gonna live up to what Ubisoft is promising (per PSX Extreme) as it continues toward its August release despite players voicing concerns surrounding its performance based on the video.