Super Smash Bros fans wondering what's next for Nintendo's massively popular franchise may have gotten a small glimpse as Masahiro Sakurai admits that he's now semi-retired from the games industry. Originally releasing in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, Super Smash Bros is a crossover fighting franchise featuring Nintendo's iconic mascots like Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, and more as they battle to knock each other off of various stages.
While the franchise has seen a few different developers like HAL Laboratory and Bandai Namco, the one constant link between every title has been its creator, Masahiro Sakurai who has directed every Smash Bros title in the series. As such, Sakurai has been working on Nintendo's massively popular franchise for well over 20 years, with only slight breaks here and there to work on other projects including Kid Icarus: Uprising, Meteos, and a number of Kirby titles.
While 2018's Super Smash Bros Ultimate would go on to really represent the pinnacle of the series for many, others wondered what the future of the series would be. On numerous occasions, Sakurai hinted at retirement as the intensity and stress of game development has caused numerous ailments for him over the years including being diagnosed with calcific tendinitis in 2013, fainting at the gym, and also needing an IV drip at times to keep working through illness. At 52 years old, Sakurai now appears to be taking a step back from normal game development.
Thanks to translations from PushDustin on Twitter regarding Sakurai's recent interview discussing his Creating Games YouTube Channel, fans now know that the Super Smash Bros director considers himself semi-retired. Part of the reason for this is that Sakurai seems to feel that if he's constantly making games, as was the case with the lengthy cycles of the recent Smash games, his life would be over before he realizes it. This doesn't necessarily mean he won't be taking on any projects going forward, just probably not as many as as has been.
Going further, while Sakurai remains happy to have worked on the franchise, the added time he now has helped push him to ultimately create his Creating Games YouTube Channel. Ultimately, his goal with YouTube has been to give insight into his unique freelance situation and game development experiences, making his channel more unique because of it. The added free time has also allowed Sakurai to catch up on his manga reading as well as playing through major game releases like Sonic Frontiers, Bayonetta 3, and God of War: Ragnarok.
SOurce: PushDustin (via DenFami)