Nintendo is reportedly planning something huge for next year, thanks to a certain game.
2024 happens to be the 30th year anniversary of Super Smash Bros. The lovechild of Masahiro Sakurai and the dearly departed Satoru Iwata changed the way people thought about fighting games, launching a completely different game design than the one that seemed guaranteed to ossify as the genre became older and more niche.
Zippo posted this rumor on his blog, so we’ll quote him on the most salient parts:
“As you fine folks no doubt know, a certain humongous franchise is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary in about a month and a half. Nintendo are apparently planning, and to quote the sources here, “Announcements, celebrations and events to commemorate the anniversary of Smash throughout the year.”
The one thing that’s already been ruled out is a new game. The next Smash Bros is something that’s been planned in some way right now, but that’s not gonna be for a bit.”
Now, it’s completely credible that Nintendo isn’t releasing a new Super Smash Bros game for several reasons. While it’s true that Super Smash Bros Ultimate will itself be turning six years in 2024, Nintendo produces new Super Smash Bros games only for each new console release. That definitely means that they aren’t planning to make the next game quite yet.
Just to punctuate that further, the people usually involved in making Super Smash Bros games are out for the moment. Masahiro Sakurai, who recently launched a YouTube channel, has hinted that he is finally mulling retirement, though he is still interested in being involved with the next game.
As for Bandai Namco, some of the developers who make fighting games there are definitely preoccupied with the pending release of Tekken 8 next year. They have also formally designated and named Studio 2 and Studio S, the team who does help on the Super Smash Bros games. This announcement seemed to indicate the studios weren’t currently working on Super Smash Bros.
Zippo has his speculations on what Nintendo could be planning next, but we’ll drop one of our own here. It has been two years since Sony bought the EVO fighting game tournament series, marking the end of Super Smash Bros appearing on the event. While independent Super Smash Bros tournaments continue to be held, their relationship with Nintendo has been fraying as of late.
Nintendo may be planning to launch their own Super Smash Bros tournament serie. The Super Smash Bros FGC may not want to admit it, but clearly the game keeps selling very well without their help. But it’s possible that Nintendo is thinking about how to re-engage with the Super Smash Bros FGC.
In particular, Nintendo wants to work with that community in terms that won’t only protect their brand, but also protect their players from unsavory elements of that community, especially younger players. For example, they could possibly launch a kids-only tournament series, all organized by Nintendo themselves, to separate them from the adult competitive community.
This is speculation on our end, in any case. Nintendo may just throw a sale, and possibly rereleasing old games like Super Smash Bros Melee or the original Super Smash Bros 64. That will still make a lot of old Super Smash Bros fans very happy. We probably won’t have to wait that long to find out.
