Now that Sora has joined its massive roster, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has finally wrapped up its post-launch plans, and it has, indeed, been an excellent run. Even the base version of the game that launched back in December 2018 was a staggering achievement in and of itself, but with subsequent DLC additions, it’s only become even more impossibly impressive.
Of course, with the critical and commercial success the fighter has enjoyed, there are always going to be questions about the series’ future. But then again, given the very nature of Smash Ultimate, one also can’t help but wonder- where does the series even go after here?
It seems that’s very much the question on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director and series creator Masahiro Sakurai’s mind as well. Speaking in an interview with Famitsu (via VGC), Sakurai said that he currently has no plans for a sequel. He continued that though he cannot definitively say that Ultimate is the last game in the series, there are also many decisions that need to be made about how to take the series forward without disappointing the fans.
“I’m not thinking about a sequel,” he said. “But I can’t say that this is definitely the last Smash Bros. I need to think about whether we should release another Smash Bros. game at the risk of disappointing the users.”
Meanwhile, Sakurai also said that he’s unsure if the series could continue without him, and said that though there have been attempts at handing it off to someone else in the past, they haven’t worked out (which is an interesting new nugget of information in and of itself).
“I can’t see any way to produce Smash Bros. without me,” he said. “To be honest, I’d like to leave it to someone else, and I’ve actually tried that, but it hasn’t worked out.”
He concluded: “If we’re going to continue with the series, Nintendo and I need to discuss and seriously consider how to make it a success.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Sakurai has talked about life after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Back in 2019, he admitted that if there were to be a new Smash Bros. game in the future, there was no way it would be able to replicate Ultimate’s roster. Meanwhile, few months later, he said that were no “no guarantees” he would continue making games once support for Smash Ultimate had wrapped up. Read more on that through here.