Masahiro Sakurai is a veritable genius- the man has worked on some of the most unique games of all time, and with Nintendo, he is a formidable force- he is behind some of Nintendo’s most recognizable and successful properties, including Kirby, Kid Icarus, and of course, Super Smash Bros.
It is also known that he is an exacting perfectionist- so much so that he literally decides to go through every single aspect of his games’ development for himself, because of how much control and perfectionism he demands. He does the job of an entire development team all by himself, and sometimes works nearly eighty hours in a week when he is working on a game (particularly Smash Bros.)
We’ve known all this- we’ve also known that most stressful for him is developing Smash Bros. (which he has now sworn off three separate times- after Melee, after Brawl, and now, after the newest installment that just released on 3DS and Wii U), but like Kojima, he keeps coming back. However, this time, things might be more serious.
Writing in his regular Famitsu column, Sakurai recently expressed a desire to quit not just Smash Bros. development, but game development as a whole.
“It was very tough this time around… I doubt I’ll be able to go on making games if it continues like this,” he said. However, probably realizing how grim he sounded, he added, “But, I consider myself lucky that so many people seem to enjoy [Smash Bros.]”
The man needs a break, and at this point, he has earned it- he is behind one of Nintendo’s most consistently successful franchises, so if he wants to just go on vacation and do nothing, or maybe develop a game with less pressure and expectations, like Kid Icarus between Brawl and the new Smash Bros., then he should be allowed to do that. Oh, and he should probably start delegating responsibility instead of doing everything himself, and maybe take on a less involved role, such as that of an overseeing producer, as well.
I just hope he decides he wants to return to game development. He’s too talented for us to lose.
Thanks, Kotaku for the translation.
