
Most Smash Bros. fans will already know how much effort game director Masahiro Sakurai puts into each title, but what's not been made quite as public is how often he's been pushed to his limits.
While on the subject of "retirement" in his part two chat with the Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada, Sakurai spoke about how he's thought about quitting game development on more occasions than he can remember while acknowledging how "tough" it can be.
"Making games is really tough. I can't count how many times I've thought that I want to quit"
Harada seemed somewhat surprised to hear this - with Sakurai reiterating how "games are just more fun to play" than create.
"I looked at the questions we received on Twitter and a lot of people asked what kind of game I wanted to make. There's no game I want to make... is what I'd like to say, but basically games are just more fun to play than make."
There are many other factors to consider when it comes to game development, according to Sakurai.
"Even if you work really hard on making one, sometimes you get picked on, things don't go well, and there are many setbacks that can happen. Also, it could mean that you're cutting your own life short to make games."
"It's really tough like a thorny path. You have to think about competing with others because it is a competition. You have to fight and survive..."
In saying this, Sakurai likes the idea of sticking with it, as long as the "demand" is still there.
"I also think I should work as long as I can...If your heart gets broken you can quit, but if not and there's demand you can keep doing it forever."
We're truly thankful to Sakurai for staying in the games industry for as long as he has. His commitment to his role (even if it has taken a toll on him at times) has resulted in many great projects enjoyed by fans around the globe.
You can watch part two of the Harada's Bar Masahiro Sakurai special over on YouTube.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 56
It’s a job at the end of the day, my job is hard, it’s extremely repetitive but it’s a job. I crack on with it.
@Total_Weirdo Not nowadays. Smash Ultimate went gold a long long time ago.
I can only wish the best for him going.
Quit already, it's time for Sakurai to rest.
Let someone else work in the Smash Bros. series, whoever replaces Sakurai, will have over 20 years of work that they can recycle.
I think anyone who actually works for a living has thought about the very same thing at least once in their careers. Even if you enjoy what you do.
A person like Sakurai would likely age faster were he not working on a project. Just like Hayao Miyazaki, he has a huge reservoir of projects he wants to create, and much fulfillment to be gained in realizing them.
The only things in life worth doing are difficult, and if you can set yourself in order by saving up money while doing what someone else wants you to do, you can live the rest of your life working on the projects you want to complete.
@Total_Weirdo Actually, that’s not as true as you’d think. In today’s industry, maintenance can be even more time-consuming than the development. All the bug-fixing, DLC, continued support etc. You don’t really stop once you put a game out anymore.
As much as I would love Sakurai to keep adding content to Smash, I think his time will finally end with the next DLC fighter. Hopefully he can work on a few more passion projects before he finally retires from game development.
I honestly wished he would just give Smash a break and work on something else instead...like Air Ride 2, or something much smaller than Smash.
@Joeynator3000 I’d take a new Adventures of Lolo!
I don't there is a job where there is not some degree of difficulty involved. Even YouTubers and Twitch streamers have to struggle to build their audiences, interact with said audience, build up partnerships with sponsors, record, edit, and upload video, and then fight with the platform whenever their videos are demonetized, copyright claimed, taken down, or what have you.
Even my own job working in a warehouse full of gift cards is no walk in the park. Granted, it's much better than being the lone cart pusher during a given shift at a grocery store, which was my previous job, but I can sometimes be on my feet most of the time, or be hunched over a table getting orders ready for shipment.
It doesn't help that I suffered foot injuries in my previous job that never fully healed and make things a bit more difficult for me to perform my duties at my new job. Thankfully, my new bosses are more interested in accuracy than speed, so I can kind of work at my own pace. And at $15 per hour, working 40 hours a week, I'm making almost 2.5 times the amount I was making per week at my old job.
Sakurai is probably a perfectionist type as well. That adds a very difficult layer to everything u do, as perfect or quit are the two enduring thoughts. But many times the imperfections have a way of taking on meaning, but it only comes with time, as any creative will tell you.
He should pack it in. He’d make a fortune in an advisory role . Sakurai is a legend.
He's been in the industry of video games for very long (Since the first Kirby game). Nowadays, there are brats that keep spamming his social media accounts demanding for their characters to be in Smash, which I mean come on. If you want my opinion, taking a long, but temporarily break is a great choice.
Sometimes, I wonder why he hasn't considered taking on a creative consultant role for Smash. He doesn't HAVE to work himself so hard if Bandai Namco is literally right there to back him up.
This just breaks my heart, as Sakurai is probably my favorite game developer ever.
Not only does he make Smash, which really bursts with content every time and I keep being amazed how well he makes them, but he is also responsible for my second favorite game ever, Kirby Super Star.
Not to mention the other games he made: Kirby's Dream Land is a great part of my childhood, Kirby's Adventure is just a fantastic game all around that really pushes the NES to it's limits, Kirby Air Ride is easily the best Kirby spinoff game (is what I would say if Dream Course didn't exist, those two are really close), Meteos is one of the most fun puzzle games I've played, and Kid Icarus Uprising is also a great game with more personality, humor, and ideas than two other games put together.
Sure, if he doesn't feel he's feeling great doing what he does, I absolutely support his retirement, but man, I wish he just kept making new games, he really understands what I like in a game.
He's done more than enough for the gaming industry. I say let the man rest. We'll always have his large catalog of games to enjoy.
@bimboliquido A person can love their job and still complain about aspects of it. If anything, Sakurai has been more open and honest about the toll that creating games can take than any developer I've known about. It doesn't mean he should leave the industry.
Like every job, it’s a job and comes with its own ups and downs. If he doesn’t like it, quit, do something else instead of moaning about it all the bloody time.
He’s an attention seeker.
Well he had only one DLC fighter left for Smash Ultimate, time to go all out with that and take a nice long vacation afterward.
I'd trade one of the Nintendo senior head executives for Sakurai in a heartbeat. Why? Because he's pretty much one of the only senior heads that are welcome to new ideas and change and is willing to compromise for smart innovation and doesn't lean to hard on the gimmicks like Miyamoto has but at the same time, isn't so hard headed that he isn't above listening to new ideas and I have to respect the man for that.
Story of my life, there isn’t a single week I don’t complain about my job.
It's almost like he wants more memes now by saying stupid things like this..
Wow most of this comment section is terrible lol. Y'all are privileged brats and hypocrites.
If imma be honest, I think he deserves a retirement. Gamers are just too pushy and needy and Sakurai doesn't deserve all that. People do not understand how much work goes into just making a single fighter. Not to mention he has other things to do and not just working on games. He needs a break every once in a while. but it's just the way I see it.
he should just quit now so he can rest Smash series no longer needs new titles Ultimate should be the very last tbh
I kinda think I get what he's saying, its not just only that the job is tough, it's the public excrutinity that goes with a job that is so looked by so many, on an industry with such a passionate and opinionated consumers. One just needs to go into any comments section to see everyone giving their opinion as if they were journos reviewing a game or game directors giving their opinion left fight and center without even knowing (not all the time but most of the time) what they are talking about. It must be really soul consuming
@BiscuitCrumbsInMyBed Well, he did say as much, essentially.
Oh hush Sakurai. We all know you'll keep making Smash for Nintendo consoles til you retire.
Acting like it isn't one of the biggest franchise on the system. The guy's a true legend. He's doing his job and he's good at what he does. It's hard work, but that's how business works.
If he truly wants to quit, he'd have a protege under training to take the reigns for him..I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what he's doing behind the scenes, so when he does finally retire, it's a smooth transition.
Removed - inappropriate
@marktornits
😟 WTF? Contradiction 101. Also irrelevant to Smash.
Given how Smash fans act (and considering that's his main thing)...I'm really not surprised that it's crossed his mind a lot on top of it just being an intense job.
Also...who wants to bet Smash fans will look at this article and think it's some sort of confirmation of (insert character here)
@nessisonett that’s because they release games that are not in Gold status. Coughing Cyberpunk cough… 😝
Smash is serious the best game ever created.
The only thing i miss, is the adventure
Or just a story mode.
Dude is always complaining.
I respect him as he is a hard worker, seems honest and has produced some stellar work. I also respect how that if you really care for your work and are highly responsible, it can be mentally exhausting.
"Making games is really tough". Plural?
The guy's been working on the same game for almost a decade.
Bonus challenge: Can someone find me one interview with him where he isn't complaining about something?
@victordamazio I don't think you quite understand: Continuing to use a lot of characters, especially the ones not under Nintendo's wing would require money exchanging hands, discussions and long talks about the conditions of the said money exchanging hands (I'm no expert, this is just how I envision it), and if one party says no and won't come to an agreement, that's all it would take to torpedo a returning character.
@DevinRex Given his role and what he's said in the past, I think it would be more surprising if he did have a protoge he's training behind the scenes.
@MegaVel91 You would be surprised.
Miyamoto and Aonuma, creators of Mario and Zelda, have a team of people they've trained at the ready to continue the franchise if anything happens to them. I wouldn't be surprised if Sakurai is doing the same. The franchises and IPs Nintendo holds are simply too valuable for them to not have that extra insurance in their back pocket. That's what I'd do at least.
@EVIL-C
Contradiction makes zero sense as a response - feel free to try again!
Have a great day~
@marktornits You're talking absolute nonsense.
Removed - flaming/arguing
The poor guy needs a break. I'm surprised that in this day and age someone is allowed to be so publicly overworked.
@marktornits My counter point would be that that has absolutely nothing to do with this article or the direct quotes from Masahiro Sakurai.
Go practice your new buzzwords somewhere else and stop trying to bait people who are here to talk about video games 💯
Yea, everyone thinks this about their job from time to time. But I think Sakurai is a bit of a tortured genius. I think he pours his entire heart, body and soul into the games he makes. That's tough to do for more than a little while. I admire the guy.
Demand will never ever stop, Mr. Sakurai-san! I hope he sets better boundaries and takes care of himself in the future. Goodness, I love this guy's passion but am also concerned about him.
Looking forward to Smash 5!
I recon it’s harder work for him than most… he puts in so much work and soul into his games, more than other directors might…
I’m worried that if he ever did retire, he’d drop dead, cause he had nothing to do. But if he works himself to the bone, that’s no good either…
Bit of a no win situation there…
“There's no game I want to make... is what I'd like to say...”
Just one of many gangster quotes from Sakurai. I’ve felt this way about difficult, creative work I’ve been passionate about as well. I love and respect the attitude, and appreciate the high, high caliber of the work he’s doing, especially in the fighting genre that can’t seem to keep up with the level of content and polish as Sakurai and crew without a bunch of compromises.
@the4seer
I love that.
You are right.
Nintendo life has course corrected after its woke garbage from a month ago- back to games.
@bimboliquido "... but since hes always complaining..." lol
@ShadowWeaver421 hmm, there are billions of other indie and big time developers who 'understand' this life style, however none of them cry as much as Sakurai. For the amount success he has under his belt, hes definitely way more EMO than the average joe developer with notoriety.
I think like Harada san, a few of his comments are definitely like, hmm, wtf? You (Sakurai) chose this life style from early on, what did ya expect at some point? He even had his own studio for a brief time...
Its a bit jarring when he seems so ambitious but yet so affected by external factors as if life is so horrible doing a job youve done for what, 25+odd years, and a job well done even.
@victordamazio yeah but no one can make a good smash bros game than sakurai. Even though he's done making anymore fighter after he announce the last one but I've got a feeling that nintendo will give sakurai a chance when the time is right
I can relate: writing, rehearsing, recording, mixing mastering a single song with a band can take like 6 months if your still learning how to use the tech and maybe the song is a 2 minute punk rock song. So much work goes into these things
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