We have some major news that Masahiro Sakurai, the director of games such as Kirby and Super Smash Bros. is reportedly considering early retirement. In addition, he has also talked about his plans to end his popular Famitsu column following the release of the last two Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighters.
Here are the details that have been shared:
- The news comes from Sakurai’s “Think About Video Games” column in Famitsu (very popular in Japan since its inception in 2003). It was also collected in a series of books and published independently. Through it, Sakurai has talked about everything related to the world of video games.
- Sakurai mentions that the idea to retire came to him during Golden Week. It was then that he started to think about his life after making video games. Sakurai stated that he has “a certain fondness” for the idea of early retirement. In his latest column he shared that “everything must come to an end at some point” and added that “it’s okay to work as much as I can right now, as long as I can, even if it makes me very busy.”
- As for his personal column in Famitsu, Sakurai stated that he is thinking of ending it after all the DLC for Super Smash Bros Ultimate is released. Two more fighters are scheduled to be released, and the column is likely to end “within this year” after its release. He also clarifies that the end of his column “doesn’t mean I won’t be involved in game-related work in the future”.