Mario + Rabbids http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl es/2017

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Mario + Rabbids

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-07-17-the-fanboys-making-the-next-mario-game

Late last year, reports began to circulate in the press about Mario + Rabbids, but with little additional information. Then in the build-up to its full reveal, a piece of retail marketing emerged with some artwork and a few sentences explaining the gameplay. It was scant, but the fans were sceptical, and Soliani's team started to worry.

"When the game leaks, no one is happy," Soliani says. "Also, let's be honest, the reaction at the beginning was not 'sceptical' - it was a little bit worse than that. It was quite hard on the team morale to read some of those comments. I asked for Grant's opinion, [since he] has way more experience than me. 'Do you think they will love it? Do you think they will hate us? Do you think that we've done everything wrong?' I was very, very worried. Because, you know, people on the internet can be very, very, very harsh."

Grant continues: "Davide was completely panicking. I kept saying to him not to worry and that everyone was going to love it."

That's why Soliani had warned his team to prepare for the worst at E3. His best hope, he tells us, was that someone would think, "It's OK for a strategy game". A good result would be to come away with one E3 Award nomination.

Yet from the moment Miyamoto took to the stage, it became clear that Soliani need not have feared. The reception was strong, and when the Nintendo legend called out Soliani's name on stage, the camera panned towards the tearful Ubisoft creator. People liked the game after all, and Soliani's emotional reaction turned him into a meme.