After leaving fans of the community in tears during the Sora reveal, the final curtain has finally come upon the behemoth that is Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. After nearly three years of non-stop content and quality of life maintenance, series creator and director Masahiro Sakurai is taking much-deserved break. However, with the final character now added into the game, this only begs the question, what happens now for the series? Sakurai spoke with the Japanese publication Famitsu, which was picked up by Siliconera, where he gives some insight on what could potentially happen at this time, and the foreseeable future.
Sakurai states in the interview that while he isn’t thinking about another entry, he adds that he can’t see this being the end of the franchise. “I am not thinking of a sequel. I am not thinking of it every time. However, I can’t say with certainty that this would be the end of Smash.” Sakurai also mentions that despite wanting to pursue other alleyways and avenues, he doesn’t see the series carrying on without him. ” I currently don’t see a path where Smash can be produced without myself,” he said. “Honestly, we did actually try leaving it to someone else, but it didn’t go well.”
It sounds like Sakurai has been seriously considering walking away from the series altogether. Considering all of the efforts that he has put forth into it since its inception, it’s hard to see Sakurai as anything else besides completely exhausted. Regardless of what he does from this point, the Super Smash Bros. series, in general, is up in the air. The final fighter has been cast, and there will be no more major content releases for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Only time will tell if the father of the series will return to deliver another entry, or leave it up to someone else and ride off into the sunset.