Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Director Is Teasing His Next Game

Today, the Finale Special of Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games was released on YouTube. The video series offered a unique opportunity for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai to discuss video game development and disclose previously unknown information. In the finale, Sakurai offered some background about how the channel came to be, revealing that he ended up with a rare break between games. According to Sakurai, the pitch for his next game had been approved in October 2021 after development on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s final DLC fighter was finished. However, it would take until April 2022 to assemble the team.

“Up to this point, I had always gone directly from one job to the next. Directors tend to stay involved in projects longer than anyone else. As one job approaches the finish line, you’ll often be getting ready for the next one — so you never get to rest. Yet after all these years, by some miracle… my schedule was wide open for several months straight! My next job was decided and I was done getting ready for it, but the team hadn’t been assembled yet — leading to this longer-than-usual gap,” said Sakurai.

Sakurai went on to say that, while he did consider a trip, he couldn’t leave behind his cat Fukurashi. Though the director says he could have used that time to take a break, he viewed the time off as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” and used that time to plan his YouTube channel instead. This would give him a rare chance to pass down the knowledge he had accumulated in his decades working in the video game industry, and potentially teach a new generation what he had learned.

During those months off, Sakurai went deep into work planning out every episode of the channel, compiling scripts, videos, and footage. By the time the channel launched in August 2022, Sakurai’s mystery game project had already begun production. Even with months of prep work, the director’s typical routine became working on game development until 6:30 p.m. (though sometimes that ran later), eating dinner, and then starting work on his channel at 8 p.m. Sakurai says that between working on this new game proposal and the channel over the last two years, his schedule could become “far too demanding” at times.

For Sakurai, the channel was a lot of work, and did not bring in a profit when all was said and done. However, the director feels that it was an investment in the future of the video game industry, which is something he feels passionately about. Sakurai has “no plans to continue” the series, and is fully focused on his new mystery project. However, he did note that he could “use it to talk about something else down the line.” Perhaps in a few years, he’ll revisit the channel to offer some insight into the making of his current game!

What do you want to see next from Masahiro Sakurai? Do you think it will be a new Smash Bros. entry, or something else? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!