Masahiro Sakurai: Working on Games with Hundreds of Developers Can Be Truly Hard
The creator of Super Smash Bros. and Kirby, Masahiro Sakurai, admitted that developing large games with huge teams often brings not only experience but also frustration. According to him, under such conditions, developers find it increasingly difficult to take pride in their own contributions. Sakurai shared this in an interview with the Japanese publication 47NEWS.
He noted that the enjoyment of work is directly linked to the visible results of efforts, and this feeling is sometimes lacking in large teams.
When it comes to creating games, seeing the results of your hard work is very gratifying. In team work, this feeling often doesn't arise, and that can be truly frustrating.
Masahiro Sakurai
As an example, he mentioned pixel art: when an artist creates an image alone, they complete it entirely. When managing a group, the process turns into endless discussions about what the result should be.
In Sakurai's opinion, in large-scale projects, an individual's contribution is easily lost. He emphasizes that not all work is equally noticeable in the final version of the game, and without a sense of completion and personal achievement, motivation quickly decreases. This problem only intensifies as teams grow.
"In large projects, this becomes increasingly difficult. The number of staff quickly reaches into the hundreds," notes Sakurai. He adds that the sense of fulfillment from independent creativity is very different from group work, and the role of a specialist noticeably changes over time.
Sakurai's own career illustrates his words well. In the credits of Kirby’s Dream Land, his debut game from the early '90s, only 14 people are listed. In contrast, his latest project, Kirby Air Riders, features a staggering 908 names. In such a colossal production machine, it's easy to feel like a nameless cog.
Sakurai is not alone in this assessment. Previously, former creative director of Assassin’s Creed, Alexandre Amancio, also stated that AAA studios mistakenly try to solve problems by increasing staff numbers, whereas he believes the future lies with more compact teams.