Masahiro Sakurai talked about the usage of generative AI in the video game development scene. The game director and designer, best known for his works on the Kirby and Super Smash Bros series, brought up the topic in a Japanese interview with ITmedia Business Online. [Thanks, Yahoo! Japan!]
At the end of the interview, ITmedia noted how the game development scene has been growing ever larger and more detailed. When it asked about the future of the gaming market, Sakurai stated that not even himself knows what lies ahead. He added that creating large-scale games in recent times would be unsustainable due to the sheer amount of work required.
This was where Masahiro Sakurai brought up generative AI as an effective solution to improve work efficiency. He also added that only companies that could adapt and change their development schemes would be able to survive.
ITmedia also noted the market growth of indie games made by small groups and solo developers. When it asked about the possibilities in this market, Sakurai noted that there have been more than 10,000 indie titles released in a year, which makes it very difficult for a game to stand out. In addition to the effort needed to complete the development, Sakurai included luck as an essential factor for an indie game to successfully stand out in the market. He concluded that both large-scale projects and indie games have unpredictable futures in their own ways.
When this Japanese interview was published in June 2025, Masahiro Sakurai was still working on a new unspecified game project, as he revealed at the finale of his “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games” channel in late October 2024. He also received an Art Encouragement Prize award from the Japanese government in March 2025 for his work on the YouTube channel.
Published: Jun 23, 2025 10:00 am