Discussion Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot: Nintendo said to release M+R: Sparks of Hope on the next console, we ignored them and that led to poor sales

[LiC]

Also, is this the first official acknowledgement of Nintendo's next system period? I think it is.

I mean, if this counts as "official acknowledgement," Nintendo execs have referenced new hardware by saying things like "we're not yet ready to talk about the next console" for years. Kind of only acknowledges in it insofar as it confirms there will in fact be a next system.

Guillemot kept it hypothetical, making it more about Nintendo's advice "to do one iteration on each machine." And then he refers to "the new machine that will come in the future," which is again not referring to any specific hardware.

 

[Brock Reiher]

This is one of Nintendo's greatest strengths right now I think. They know not to rush things out too early, even if that means pushing something back a few years until the time is right. If you're doing well you can afford to wait.

 

[Eclissi]

The name of that guy is Guillemot, not Guillemont.

Guillemont is the Deluxe version of Guillemot for Drake

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

The original sold due to a variety of factors like releasing early in the system’s life or the aggressive discounts that often put it into impulse buy territory. It was more than a little optimistic to expect a new game to replicate that success out of the gate. Looking at Nintendo’s own Mario games on Switch or even Wii should have tipped them off that followups on the same system sell around 50-60% of their predecessor. Don’t know what they expected to happen here.

 

[Reinhard Schneider]

Nice of him to be so transparent, but how the fuck do you ignore a company's - and not any company, fucking Nintendo - advice on how to manage their own character?

 

[Puikko]

Props to him for being able to admit this. It's probably an understandable "mistake" to make though, as I cannot think of any other publisher out there but Nintendo who regularly goes "Yup we will hold on to this finished product for potentially up to multiple years to release it when the time is just right."

 

[Adulfzen]

rather than waiting for the next switch would have been nice if they went M+R 1 -> Brand new game which is another genre on Switch 1 -> M+R 2 on Switch 2

Also the game would have clearly benefited from the extra horsepower considering it feels like the levels had to be less detailed geometry/texturing wise to compensate for the increase in scale.

My only hope is that Sparks of Hope doesn't prevent further collaboration between Ubisoft Milan and Nintendo but instead they decide to do something else (maybe go for Zelda,Metroid or Splatoon instead of Mario)

 

[Deleted member 1896]

I can see why Ubisoft ignored Nintendo's advice. There's no guarantee Switch 2 will be as successful a platform, and even Nintendo has released multiple iterative sequels on Switch with excellent results, albeit not Mario games (Xenoblade, Splatoon, Zelda).

Ubisoft are obviously taking a lot of inspiration from their partnership with the big N, as can be seen in games like Starlink and Immortals, so I don't think there's any danger of this collaboration ending soon. I do, however, fear that the next Prince of Persia will be a bit too late to the game to make a lasting impression, sales-wise.

 

[Notsowise]

Even if this was a Switch 2 title I still wouldn't buy it on release knowing full well that if I just wait it'll be dirt cheap and I'm already getting more than my fill of turn-based tactics.

Actually, on switch 2 first year I would buy… i know myself with new consoles…

 

[oomoepoo]

I absolutely loved the first game (was the first game I bought for the Switch, actually) and the genre... but I didn't buy the second game because there was just so much other stuff to play. Also because Ubisoft is a terrible company as long as Yves doesn't get kicked out.

I feel sorry for the game cause it looks great but this is a prime example of "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes"

 

[jzero]

damn, should have listened to ninty

edit: some quotes

so that's our answer as to why there won't be a mario odissey 2 on the switch

 

[Ayra]

I can't say being on the next Switch instead would have made a big difference for me. The biggest reasons for me not grabbing it were:

1) Ubisoft discounts. As someone who often buys games right away, I still felt burned by the first game going on deep sale that early. Since I'm not starved for games, I figured I can wait a while.

2) For someone who's solely interested in the strategic aspect, it's a downgrade compared to the first. Instead of having a pre-defined set of well-crafted maps, the vast majority of maps are now randomly generated and has what amounts to random battles. Open world time waster instead of a tightly built experience.

3) I don't like the Rabbids. I enjoyed the first game despite them, not because of them. And the second one seems to be even more Rabbids-focused.

I'm still thinking of maybe grabbing it for super-cheap at some point, but... As a huge SRPG fan, #2 is the biggest thing for me.