Summary
- Soliani expressed interest in collaborating with Nintendo again.
- The Mario + Rabbids director reminisced on his time working with Nintendo and his passion for the company.
Davide Soliani, the director who helmed both Mario + Rabbids crossover 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 shipped Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.
After an eventful tenure, Soliani left Ubisoft in search of greener pastures in July 2024. This move came less than a year after the final DLC for 2022’s Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope rolled 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 the Mario creator 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.

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In an interview with VGC, 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 the first Mario + Rabbids game, 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.”
Mario + Rabbids Lead Leaves the Door Open for Nintendo
The latest comments from Soliani about a possible Nintendo collaboration all but confirm that he would welcome such an arrangement with open arms. For longtime Mario + Rabbids fans who remember seeing the Ubisoft alumnus get emotional when 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, the Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope director is 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.
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