Summary
- Sakurai receives the Art Encouragement Prize for YouTube contributions in game development.
- The honor comes from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs.
- Despite semi-retirement, Sakurai's potential future plans remain unknown, with fans continuing to speculate.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate creator Masahiro Sakurai has received the Art Encouragement Prize from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The award is an annual recognition, and while it's been far longer than a year since the release of the latest Smash Bros title, Sakurai was active on YouTube throughout 2024. Regardless, it's a noteworthy achievement for the brain behind Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, even after an already illustrious career.
It's been several years since the release of Smash Bros. Ultimate, with little to no news about a potential sequel. Still, Sakurai has confirmed he's not done making games, although not quite at the same level of involvement, thanks to his self-dubbed "semi-retirement." Despite this relative silence in the game development space, the beloved creator has kept busy as a YouTuber over the past few years, enough so that Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs has taken note of its impact on the community.
Masahiro Sakurai Reveals How Super Smash Bros. Got Its Name
Super Smash Bros. Series director Masahiro Sakurai reveals how the Nintendo crossover platform fighter first got its iconic name.
As reported by VGC, the Agency awarded Sakurai for his contributions on YouTube, which shared insider insights on game development for a wider audience. According to the statement accompanying the award, Sakurai's channel made game production concepts easy to understand and accessible, both for Japanese viewers and an international audience, which helped promote the art of game creation across the world. Unfortunately for anyone wanting to hear more from his perspective, Sakurai posted his last YouTube video in October 2024, but the body of work he published before then was enough to earn him the Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists, even without technically being "new" in the field.
Masahiro Sakurai Earns Government Recognition for His YouTube Channel
Sakurai responded to the honor on Twitter, thanking the Agency for the award and jokingly asking if this means he can call himself "a cultural person." As for what's next for the creator, things are less clear. Some think a new edition of Smash Bros. Ultimate would make an ideal Switch 2 launch title, and the game has received patches as recently as October 2024, though there's no official news on whether an updated version is in the works or if the studio is working on a sequel.
Despite apparently reaching the end of its life cycle, the game is still a big hit among current players, with Smash Bros. Ultimate being the third-best-selling Switch game as of February 2025. Of course, Sakurai could always focus his efforts elsewhere, using the time he no longer spends on YouTube to help develop a new game entirely. For now, though, it seems the legendary dev is happy in his semi-retirement, and fans will have to wait for further information from Sakurai himself to know what, if anything, is coming down the pipeline.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- December 7, 2018
- ESRB
- E for Everyone: Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
WHERE TO PLAY
Gaming icons clash in the ultimate brawl you can play anytime, anywhere! Smash rivals off the stage as new characters Simon Belmont and King K. Rool join Inkling, Ridley, and every fighter in Super Smash Bros. History. Enjoy enhanced speed and combat at new stages based on the Castlevania series, Super Mario Odyssey, and more!
Having trouble choosing a stage? Then select the Stage Morph option to transform one stage into another while battling—a series first! Plus, new echo fighters Dark Samus, Richter Belmont, and Chrom join the battle. Whether you play locally or online, savor the faster combat, new attacks, and new defensive options, like a perfect shield. Jam out to 900 different music compositions and go 1-on-1 with a friend, hold a 4-player free-for-all, kick it up to 8-player battles and more!
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- n/a
- Cross Save
- no
- Franchise
- Super Smash Bros.
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- no
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
- Platform(s)
- Switch
- X|S Optimized
- no
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
