Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Report Says Slow Sales Have Turned Around

In late 2022, Ubisoft released Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope on Nintendo Switch. The sequel received strong critical praise, but proved to be a sales disappointment compared to its predecessor, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. However, it seems that things are starting to look up for the game. According to sources for Video Games Chronicle, Sparks of Hope has now hit 3 million copies sold, which puts the sequel's numbers in line with where Kingdom Battle was at this same point in time. It will still take time for the game to reach the 10 million the first game sold, but things seem to be looking up!

It should be noted that Ubisoft did not respond to a request for comment from VGC, so readers should take these numbers with a grain of salt. However, if they are correct, it could bode well for a third game in the series. Following the release of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, the game's developers jumped straight into development of the DLC and then into working on Sparks of Hope. Following the release of the DLC for Sparks of Hope, it does not seem that history has repeated itself; back in May, composer Grant Kirkhope Tweeted that he believed that his "8 years writing music for Mario is at an end."

Why Didn't Sparks of Hope Sell?

There are many potential reasons Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope failed to live-up to Ubisoft's expectations. However, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot seems to believe that the mistake was releasing the game on Nintendo Switch. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz last year, Guillemot said Nintendo advised them that "it's better to do one iteration on each machine" and they should have waited for the next Nintendo console. While Nintendo releases a lot of Mario games on each platform, they don't tend to repeat spin-offs, meaning that systems like Switch only get one Mario Tennis, one Mario Golf, etc. By that logic, it's possible we could see the Mario + Rabbids series return on Nintendo's next system! 

When Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle launched on Nintendo Switch in 2017, it was the first original Mario game on the system; Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was on Switch first, but the game was a port of the Wii U version. Super Mario Odyssey was still a few months away, so fans of the Mario franchise didn't have a lot of early options on the system. By the time Sparks of Hope came out, the situation had clearly changed! 

Nintendo and Ubisoft Collaborations

The Switch era has seen Ubisoft become a trusted partner for Nintendo; not did the publisher create two Mario games, it also got to use the cast of Star Fox in the Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas. With a new Nintendo system rumored to release in 2024, it will be interesting to see if we get even more collaborations between the two companies during that era!

Are you happy that Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is starting to sell better? Would you like to see a third game in the series? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!