Key Takeaways
1. Masahiro Sakurai finds it frustrating to work in large teams due to the difficulty in recognizing individual contributions.
2. He feels more fulfilled working alone, as it allows him to see the direct results of his efforts.
3. Collaboration in big teams can lead to dissatisfaction, especially when discussing artistic styles and decisions.
4. The sense of personal achievement diminishes as team sizes grow, making it harder to feel a connection to the final product.
5. Sakurai expresses concerns about the sustainability of large AAA projects, suggesting that advancements like GenAI may be needed to manage resources and time effectively.
Super Smash Bros. and Kirby creator, Masahiro Sakurai, has recently expressed his thoughts about the challenges of working on large games with many developers. He finds this process “really frustrating” because he believes that some work clearly showcases individual results, while other work does not.
Individual Contributions
Sakurai points out that when working in big teams, it becomes hard to see the contributions of individual developers. He feels a greater sense of fulfillment when he works alone rather than being part of a group. In a recent interview with the Japanese news outlet 47NEWS, he reflected on his extensive career in the video game industry, which began back in the early ’90s when games were typically created by smaller teams.
The Satisfaction of Individual Work
During the interview, he was asked about what he enjoys about being a game developer, and he shared a straightforward answer:
He mentioned that it is very gratifying to witness the outcomes of your own labor. This satisfaction is often missing when collaborating with others, leading to frustration. For instance, when a pixel artist independently creates a piece, they can complete it on their own. However, when overseeing a team, it becomes challenging as discussions about the appropriate style of pixel art are needed.
The Shift in Development Dynamics
Sakurai believes that the larger the development team, the more difficult it becomes to feel a personal sense of achievement. He elaborated during the interview:
It seems like this struggle is worsening with the rise of large-scale games. The number of staff is rapidly growing into the hundreds. The fulfillment from creating something on your own is not the same as what you feel when part of a group. The expectations of what one should do are also evolving.
Over the years, the number of developers involved in Sakurai’s own games has changed significantly. For instance, his 1992 title, Kirby’s Dream Land, was developed by only 14 people, while the more recent Kirby and the Forgotten Land featured hundreds of developers credited.
Concerns About AAA Projects
This isn’t the first occasion Sakurai has raised alarms about the growing size of AAA projects. He has described this trend as unsustainable in terms of time and resources. In July 2025, he remarked that the outlook for large productions appears “dark,” hinting that GenAI may be necessary to keep projects feasible.
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