Current Events > Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope was a sales flop.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/109byzg/ubisoft_mario_rabbids_sparks_of_hope_didnt_meet/

We are clearly disappointed by our recent performance. We are facing contrasted market dynamics as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and everlasting live games, in the context of worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending.

Despite excellent ratings and players' reception as well as an ambitious marketing plan, we were surprised by Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope underperformance in the final weeks of 2022 and early January.

Guess we won't be seeing Mario cross over with the Rabbids anymore.

Flop and underperformance are not the same thing.

It's a damn shame, because it's a really good game. Wonder if Switch is losing steam?

Guess this will be the end of Mario RPGs, truly...

Sad but not surprising, the first one came out with minimal competition

Well what were their expectations? Were they expecting a growth in sales by a significant amount? If so, why? Turned based Mario plus Rabbids seems like it has a pretty obvious ceiling of interest, and a good chunk of that would be lost from the first game to the second from the folks satisfied and done with the concept and from those that didnt care and were done. Are there loads of people that were interested but didnt play the first one? I doubt it

Also, them blaming mega brands when they were attached to the OG mega brand in gaming seems like an obvious excuse for what they were going to be doing anyway.

It probably underperformed due to coming out during Fall season where competition is high and people waiting on a steep sale before buying. The first game went on sale so many times that it probably conditioned a lot of potential buyers to wait.

DoctorPiranha3 posted...

It's a damn shame, because it's a really good game. Wonder if Switch is losing steam?

Guess this will be the end of Mario RPGs, truly...

It has little to do with Switch. OG Mario vs Rabbids released during a slow period of releases for Switch, was more novel the first time, the first game is dirt cheap now and I don't think people liked the look of the new OCs. In addition I bet a fair amount of casual buyers bounced of the first one for its suprisingly stiff challenge and weren't in the second interested due to that.

Look at how well Monster Hunter Sunbreak, Pokemon SV, Splatoon 3 etc. are doing.

Its an Ubisoft game. Who is stupid enough to buy at it full price at launch when itll be discounted within a month? Its like the company doesnt know that they are know for steep discounts that come soon after launch.

I thought it was because people didn't like the rabbids...or maybe that is just me.

We are facing contrasted market dynamics as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and everlasting live games, in the context of worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending.

This scares me. I do play Destiny, which Ive been playing for almost 10 years, but I like other games that arent live services too. Every game doesnt have to be a live service. Over saturating the market with live service titles will lead to a lot of failed games because people can juggle only a limited amount of those games

Solar_Crimson posted...

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/109byzg/ubisoft_mario_rabbids_sparks_of_hope_didnt_meet/

Guess we won't be seeing Mario cross over with the Rabbids anymore.

This is all upside considering Mario can do better crossovers for sure.

That's a shame, because the game is good

The rabbids remind me of the minions too much.

not exactly something Ill jump into.

Well, looks like thats the end of Mario

These dumb companies keep releasing mid-tier but fun games in the middle of AAA holiday season and somehow expect huge sales. They really need to learn to release games like this around April or May during slower months and when every major franchise isn't getting their annual release. Yeah, it's a Mario game, but it's a spin-off with little creatures that aren't as popular as Ubisoft may think they are. The first game was fun, but this isn't a franchise that I'm slobbering to pre-order the moment it's announced.

Second game is so much better than the first and the first was still good (no way can I go back to how the first played; you have so much more freedom in Sparks the only thing is that I wish it was more difficult, and the load times are a little annoying). Ubisoft just doomed it by putting the first on deep sales so often (Nintendo games do not go on sale very often, and even when they do, the discounts arent as big as other devs would do), and releasing it in a very competitive month.

Does anyone give a fuck about the rabbids?

Not surprising. Even though it has Mario it has niche appeal. Sad cause I liked the first game

I got it for 50% off shortly after Christmas at Target with a gift card I got for Christmas.

Barely 2 months old and already seeing big discounts for it.

refmon posted...

Does anyone give a fuck about the rabbids?

They dont even feel like Rabbids in this game. Theyre just NPCs that just happen to look like them. First game was a lot more chaos. I think thats like the one way the game failed; the Mario characters all get like one line, the Rabbid party members barely speak and barely show their chaotic natures (or even just personality quirks). All of the voice acting goes into the dumb robots that guide the party. There are many NPCs that have more lines than your party members. I dont get it tbh. It feels like it doesnt leverage the IP very well (the animations are still great though, and the Rabbid party members talk when attacking sometimes).

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

This is why I didn't buy it. It'll be 15 bucks in Walmart in no time

Ok hear me out

Paper Mario + Rabbids

"Underperfomed" is such a weasley, nebulous phrase. Underperformed by what metric? If it's not anywhere close to all of the money, the corporate execs think it underperforms. Reminds me of when Square Enix said Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, and Hitman all underperformed because they didn't collectively move 15 million units.

I want to get it but probably pre-owned so I'm not directly giving my money to Ubi tbh

chrono625 posted...

The rabbids remind me of the minions too much.

not exactly something Ill jump into.

I've heard that the dude who made the minions also made the rabbids