Since 2022, Masahiro Sakurai has shared game design tips on his YouTube Channel, ‘Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.’ Best known as the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series, the director and game designer has helped many fledgling creators with his free advice, but it seems that his channel is nearing its end.
While Sakurai announced the impending end of his YouTube channel back in January, he didn’t announce an exact time frame. In a new update shared on June 15, the designer confirmed that the channel’s final episode had been filmed–though it will be a while until it’s published.
Sakurai’s channel has over 580,000 subscribers.
In December, the director noted that he was still working despite claiming that he was ‘semi-retired’ back in 2022.
“As for me, I’m still creating games for the time being, but I’m also making this YouTube channel,” Sakurai said at the time. “I’d never done anything like this before starting, so in a way, you could say I haven’t exactly stayed put either.”
Understandably, Sakurai also said in a July 2023 interview that he couldn’t imagine future Super Smash Bros. games being developed without his involvement.
“The question now is what happens next time? I mean whatever comes after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. One option would be to separate the series from its original creator, but for now at least, I can’t imagine a Smash Bros. title without me. You might think that’s a natural stance for someone in my role, but I say so speaking objectively,” Sakurai said.
“I feel the same way President Iwata did when we formed the team for Smash Bros. Brawl. At present, we don’t have someone who can simply take the reins. Smash Bros. is a massive, important title for Nintendo, so it’s fair to assume there will be another one at some point, but it’s going to take some work to figure out exactly how to make that happen. For my part, I’d like to keep working with Nintendo however I’m able.”
