Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai’s comments on early retirement clarified

We recently received some alarming statements from Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, in which he seemed to hint that he was going to retire soon. Well, now we’ve got more information on the matter.

IGN has been analysing the translation of these words, shared in the Japanese magazine Famitsu, and it seems that some of his comments were misinterpreted in the first preliminary translations: the creative does not plan to stop developing in the near future, although the idea of retirement has crossed his mind.

This is the translation provided by this news outlet:

During the break, I also keep thinking about life after I stop making games. Everyone ages over time, and I can’t keep working forever. Honestly, it would be nice to have a bit more free time. There’s something quite appealing about the idea of early retirement, isn’t there?

The question of, ‘How much longer can I keep working in this job’ crosses my mind quite often. I think these kinds of questions are particularly unavoidable for people my age or older.

I don’t plan to leave game development work after that or anything but, in the meantime, I’ll keep at it!