Smash Bros. Creator Masahiro Sakurai Films His Last YouTube Video
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Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai finished filming the final video for his Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Video Games YouTube channel. It’s the end of an era in a way, as Sakurai spent almost two years sharing his thoughts on game development after wrapping up his work on Smash Bros. Ultimate, but Sakurai says it’ll be a while yet before that video airs (thanks, Nintendo Life).
Before you go thinking Sakurai is ending his channel to work on a new Smash Bros., you probably shouldn’t. The veteran developer said previously that he has no conception of how the fighting game could possibly get bigger or better. That’s no guarantee we won’t see a new Smash Bros., but given how Sakurai has spoken publicly about his exhaustion while working on Ultimate, it seems more likely that he’s just ready to move on.
Whatever the reason, Sakurai’s Creating Games channel ended up being an unexpected trove of insight not just into how he and his team approached the challenge of creating Smash Bros, but into what it takes to make games in general. His videos – usually shorter than five minutes – touches on subjects ranging from making scenery feel important and real in stage design to effective team management techniques and how to get a game ready for marketing.
In a field as secretive as the video games industry is, any insight from a developer – especially one with as much experience as Sakurai – is pretty rare and worth paying attention to, even if you just have a passing interest in the hobby.
Sakurai didn’t say what topic his final video will cover or when it might go live.