"it was very stressful, because we were trying to show something to them that was the same quality and level of polish, but with a twist. Some craziness on it."
- Creative director of Ubisoft Milan Davide Soliani on pitching original ideas to Nintendo.
In a recent interview, Ubisoft Milan's managing director Dario Migliavacca and creative director Davide Soliani discussed their experience working with Nintendo on Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
Migliavacca and Soliani mention their collaboration with Nintendo, citing how generating new ideas for a title with an established IP relies a lot on developers taking risks.
Their prompt was pretty open ended, as Migliavacca recalls: "It started with a very simple mandate. We had to propose a concept with Mario and Rabbids, that’s all."
According to Soliani, the challenge of pitching something original to Nintendo was daunting, saying that "It’s always better to dare. Worst case scenario, they say no. But at the same time they want to be surprised. Otherwise they will make the game themselves. So they really want you to try."
Sharing his ideas directly to Miyamoto was a challenge as well, says Soliani. "Knowing that he was expecting something that would surprise him, it’s not so easy to live with. I would say that I was in front of this IP with a lot of respect, but also with the strong will to show my perspective."
In the interview the pair also speak about the challenges of developing a game with someone else's IP, as well as what the development process was like for the studio.
Check out the full interview available at Develop.