The original Mario + Rabbids was always destined to be successful given the Mario brand, but no-one, Ubisoft included, could have envisaged such a lucrative sales juggernaut.

Thanks to the success of that first title, it came as no surprise when Ubisoft announced a sequel, but initial sales back when it launched in late 2022 weren’t as great as the publisher was expecting.

Despite a larger install base on the Switch by the time Sparks of Hope released, sales didn’t match those of the original, and were below expected. We covered the story back in March, but the main crux is that sales weren’t up to scratch, and CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, wasn’t happy:

"Despite excellent ratings and players’ reception as well as an ambitious marketing plan, we were surprised by Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope underperformance in the final weeks of 2022 and early January.”

Months later when addressing the issue again, Guillemot stated that it was perhaps released too soon and they should have waited for the next Nintendo console:

We had already released a Mario Rabbids game [on Switch], so by doing another we had two similar experiences on one machine. On Nintendo, games like this never die. There are 25 Mario games on Switch.

Nintendo [advised] that it's better to do one iteration on each machine. We were a bit too early, we should have waited for [the next console]."

Despite all of this though, it has now been revealed (via VGC) that Sparks of Hope is nearing 3 million in sales, which puts it on track with sales of the original title in the same time-frame, a nice change of pace from what was once an underperforming release.

The longevity and increase in sales has no doubt been pushed by various factors, such as the release of the Super Mario Bros Movie last year boosting sales across all Mario titles. But it’s overwhelmingly clear that Ubisoft were not going to let this title peter out, and have pushed it through physical and digital sales, an extensive free demo, as well as robust DLC support boasting the return of platforming veteran Rayman!

Given this news, perhaps the outlook for future iterations of the series are no longer so bleak, and a new spark has been ignited in the powers that be at Ubisoft.