Masahiro Sakurai has once again hinted at uncertainty regarding the future of Super Smash Bros.
While answering an interview question about choosing Fire Emblem characters, Sakurai alluded to the end of making Super Smash Bros 4 DLC, and the end of Super Smash Bros. itself. Here’s his exact statement:
Sakurai: Yes, that applies to Lucina as well. How much a character will please the players, how unique they are—there are a lot of factors that go into deciding a character’s inclusion. I don’t know whether Fire Emblem will have many more games in the future, but it’s not as if we have a stipulation that says “we have to include the protagonist of the next Fire Emblem game.” Moreover, we don’t even know if there’ll be another Smash game.Interviewer: You do say that every time, though, so I do wonder if maybe it’ll just keep on going forever.
Sakurai: And I’ll become the Smash craftsman? (laughs)
Interviewer: Yes. After all, including the DLC, you’ve been involved with Smash since the beginning.
Sakurai: Well, DLC is coming to an end soon, too, y’know.
Is there reason to believe Sakurai this time when he says Super Smash Bros’ future is uncertain? Yes. Sakurai stated multiple times that it was the late Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata who encouraged him to keep working on the Smash games, even if he was feeling fatigued from working on it. With Iwata gone, that situation may have changed.
It’s also worth noting that Super Smash Bros was, for many years, a pet project of Sakurai and Iwata. Unlike other key franchises, Nintendo was not able to set a successor from within EAD to take over the series. Of course, for several years now, Sakurai has been working on the game in an independent capacity.
Of course, this is not to say that Nintendo could not keep on working on Super Smash Bros. It’s just that the franchise’s future has not been planned for. It’s a situation that may make competitive players unhappy, as they may not be keen on supporting a series without a discernible future. But then again, the Melee community is still going strong, so many years later.
What do you think should come next for Super Smash Bros? What about for Sakurai himself? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
