The fortunes of Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope have seemingly turned around. Sources speaking to VGC claim the game has sold around 3 million copies.
Over a year ago, Ubisoft called it a flop due to its poor late 2022 sales. But Nintendo eShop discounts helped lure players in, an effect similarly seen during the game's price drop on the physical version during its holiday launch.
At the moment, Sparks of Hope is performing in line with the lifetime sales of its 2017 predecessor, Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. But a sequel is expected to perform better than, rather than on par with, the last one.
Last year, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot admitted Sparks should've launched on Nintendo's next console, a suggestion Nintendo had previously made but was shunned by Ubisoft, who felt that Kingdom and Sparks wouldn't cannibalize each other.
However, series producer Cristina Nava expressed to VGC last year her belief that Sparks would be fine in the end. Like Kingdom, she expects it to have a long tail and improve its sales over the next several years. "It’s been received, by both the press and the public, very, very well," said Nava last August. "It’s just a matter of giving it time, with word of mouth etc.”
Ubisoft has previously touted the long retention of games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Rainbow Six Siege. It may be that Sparks of Hope has similar growth like Nava hopes, provided the developer is willing to tout its improvement when possible.
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