The release date for upcoming turn-based strategy game Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope appears to have been leaked by its publisher Ubisoft.
The alleged release date was spotted on the Ubisoft Store, with the game being slated for an October 20 release. The date has since been reverted back to the vague 2022 release window, although this hasn’t stopped people from taking screenshots and posting them online. One source is Twitter user Wario64, with the screenshotted date still being up on their profile.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope releasing October 20th according to Ubisoft Store https://t.co/HWryODJvE9 pic.twitter.com/nVKTSMAZTd
— Wario64 (@Wario64) June 27, 2022
It’s entirely possible that this date was updated to the storefront ahead of an announcement slated for today’s Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, which will dedicate roughly 25 minutes to information on third-party titles coming to Nintendo Switch.
Ironically, the initial announcement of the game was also leaked ahead of its official E3 2021 unveiling via Nintendo’s own website, while its 2017 predecessor (Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle) was also leaked months ahead of its announcement.
The development team for the sequel has reportedly tripled in size, compared to the team of over 100 developers that worked on the original. Creative director Davide Soliani also reported that the team had been listening to player feedback from the original title: “We’ve been listening to our community so much, and some of the things they’ve asked for that we’ve been collecting and discussing since we released the game in 2017 have become a reality.”
Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope isn’t the only Ubisoft title scheduled for release before the end of 2022. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, OddBallers, Tom Clancy’s The Division: Heartland and Rocksmith+ are also slated for release this year.
In other news, external QA team Quantic Lab allegedly made “false claims around team size to secure or extend contracts” to CD Projekt Red during the development of Cyberpunk 2077.
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