Masahiro Sakurai Says He Is Still Working 'At Full Throttle' Despite Retirement Questions

Masahiro Sakurai is not ready to step away from game development. The creator best known for Super Smash Bros. and Kirby has again addressed questions about retirement, explaining that he does not see a reason to stop while there is still demand for the games he can make.

Speaking during the Famitsu 40th Anniversary Festival, Sakurai was asked whether retirement was on his mind. A translation shared by Genki_JPN characterized his response as a mixture of commitment and concern: he intends to continue as long as people want his work and as long as he remains capable of delivering it. Sakurai said he is, "Unfortunately, I'm still working at full throttle."

It is a striking choice of words from one of Nintendo's most recognizable creative figures, particularly because Sakurai has previously described himself as semi-retired. In 2022, roughly a year after Sora arrived as the final downloadable fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he said he was in that in-between state. Yet the years since have hardly resembled a conventional retirement. He ran a YouTube channel focused on game design for two years, and Kirby Air Riders, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, released a year ago.

His latest comments suggest that "semi-retired" has never meant permanently leaving the business behind. Instead, it appears to describe a creator whose level of involvement may have changed, but whose desire to contribute has not disappeared.

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Demand remains Sakurai's deciding factor

Sakurai's answer frames retirement less as a question of age or career milestones and more as a question of whether he can still answer an audience's expectations. If there is demand for him to create games, and if he can meet that demand, he does not consider it time to stop.

That outlook is understandable given his history. Super Smash Bros. has become one of gaming's defining crossover series, bringing together characters from Nintendo and an enormous range of partner publishers. Its appeal rests not only on recognizable fighters, but on a level of detail that fans have come to expect: stages packed with references, music libraries spanning decades, unusual modes, carefully considered movesets, and an enormous amount of material meant to celebrate game history.

Those expectations grew dramatically through Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Switch title's "Everyone is here" premise created an extraordinary roster and a demanding development task, while post-launch additions extended the project further. By the time Sora closed out the Fighters Pass, Sakurai had overseen a game whose scope set an especially intimidating benchmark for whatever might follow.

There has been no confirmation of Sakurai's current project. As a result, any suggestion that he is making another Super Smash Bros. remains speculation. The continued interest surrounding the series helps explain why fans connect his comments to its future, but Sakurai did not use this retirement discussion to announce a new game, a studio assignment, or a development role.

A candid admission about physical strain

While Sakurai's determination was clear, he did not present the pace as sustainable or ideal. He said he has noticed declines in parts of his body and that his eyes tire much more easily than before. When the subject turned to whether maintaining such a workload is acceptable, Sakurai acknowledged that it is "certainly not the case."

That candor matters. The game industry has a long and troubled relationship with overwork, especially around large productions and major deadlines. High-profile creators can sometimes be treated as symbols of relentless devotion, but Sakurai's remarks do not read as an uncomplicated celebration of that approach. He recognizes the toll and explicitly does not endorse the workload as something that should be considered normal.

His own career provides a serious example of why. During the extended development period associated with Super Smash Bros., Sakurai suffered from calcific tendonitis, a painful condition involving calcium deposits in tendons. Even so, he continued working on the game. That history gives additional weight to his current question about when his spirit might finally break. It is not simply a dramatic expression from a busy developer; it comes from someone who has already worked through significant physical difficulty.

As long as there is demand and he can satisfy it, Sakurai does not believe it is time to retire--but he also says this intensity is not a healthy model to recommend.

There is an important distinction in those two ideas. Sakurai seems deeply motivated by the responsibility he feels toward players and toward the medium. At the same time, he is not saying that creators should ignore their health to meet every expectation. The tension between those positions is central to his comments: he wants to keep contributing, but he is aware that personal limits are real.

A career shaped by unusually long projects

The scale of Sakurai's recent work helps put his perspective in context. Development on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U began in 2012, beginning a stretch of major Smash development that continued for roughly nine years through the conclusion of Ultimate's downloadable content. A schedule like that can make the boundary between one project and the next difficult to define, particularly when a creator is closely involved in design decisions, communication, and the broader direction of a franchise.

Then came Sakurai's educational YouTube work. His channel offered focused discussions of design principles and production considerations, sharing ideas built from decades in the industry. Although the videos were often concise and accessible, the project still represented a notable commitment alongside his other activities. It also showed that his interest in games extends beyond shipping a new title. Sakurai has consistently appeared interested in how games are made, why particular design choices work, and what the industry can learn from its own practices.

That wider perspective surfaced again in his comments about continuing to think about what he can do for the game industry. Even when discussing fatigue and retirement, he did not describe his work only in terms of a personal next step. He framed it as part of an ongoing effort to contribute to games more broadly.

One responsibility has already been set aside

There may be at least one practical change to Sakurai's workload. He recently retired his Game Designers Award after 16 years because he was unable to find a successor. Stepping down from that responsibility should, at minimum, remove one long-running obligation from his schedule.

The decision also illustrates how much of Sakurai's influence has existed outside his own games. Awards, commentary, educational material, and public discussions about development all take time. For an individual already associated with unusually ambitious projects, each additional commitment can become another demand on limited energy.

Whether relinquishing the award role leads to a substantially lighter routine remains unknown. Sakurai's "full throttle" description makes clear that he is not presenting the change as a route to immediate rest. Still, it is a reminder that even a creator determined to continue can make choices that reduce at least part of the burden.

What the comments mean for fans

For fans of Kirby, Super Smash Bros., and Sakurai's broader design work, the most direct takeaway is simple: he is not announcing retirement. He remains active, sees demand for his work, and believes he can still meet it. That is likely to fuel further anticipation around whatever he does next.

But the comments also deserve to be read beyond the question of a possible new Smash. Sakurai is describing a career built on passion, responsibility, and an unusually high standard for creative output, while admitting that the cost of sustaining that standard is growing. His willingness to say that the workload is not okay is as important as his willingness to continue.

There is no announced next project and no stated retirement timetable. For now, Sakurai's position is defined by that unresolved balance: he remains eager to make games for an audience that still wants them, but he is frank about the physical and emotional limits that accompany such a demanding commitment.