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Mario + Rabbids director David Soliani leaves Ubisoft

Soliani closes out a 25-year-long career at Ubisoft that included directing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Sparks of Hope.

TJ Denzer

July 24, 2024 11:58 AM

Image via Ubisoft

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David Soliani, a longtime lead at Ubisoft and director of both Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, is leaving the company after a 25-year run. Of that run, 11 years were spent on the Mario + Rabbids franchise. Soliani has not shared what he will be doing after Ubisoft at this time.

David Soliani shared word of his exit from Ubisoft via his personal social media this week. In his post, Soliani thanked the fans of Mario + Rabbids for their support throughout his career:

Hi all folks. After 25 years, 11 of which beautifully spent working with Nintendo on Mario+Rabbids along the company of our incredible community of players, I have decided to leave Ubisoft to embark on a new adventure. I can't say more now. Thanks a lot for everything, truly 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/nafgBC2bu8

— Davide Soliani (@DavideSoliani) July 24, 2024

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle released in 2017 and Sparks of Hope released in 2022. Both games were highly beloved by those who played them, bringing an X-COM style of cover based strategy to play alongside a delightful array of rabbid-ized Mario and Mushroom Kingdom characters. We certainly enjoyed Sparks of Hope when we reviewed it and the game was further supported through DLC packs for quite a while after its release.

It's a shame we won’t get to see more out of Soliani’s director talents at Ubisoft, but given what he put up for Mario + Rabbids, we’re excited to see what he does next. Stay tuned here at Shacknews for further updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.