It has been my distinct pleasure and honor to have been a dedicated viewer of the “Creating Games” YouTube channel that Masahiro Sakurai made. He is the man behind numerous gaming icons and series, with Kirby and Super Smash Bros. being the biggest among them, and his insights on gaming as a whole have been something we’ve talked about quite a bit on the Nintendo Entertainment Podcast. However, all good things must come to an end, and in the “Finale Special,” Sakurai broke down everything that went into this series, including some things you might not have expected.
For example, as he reveals early on, the videos we’ve been seeing were made back in 2022! Apparently, Masahiro Sakurai had a rare break from work (more on that later), and he came up with this idea to try and give a “boost” to both the gaming industry and the gamers who wanted to learn more about video game development. In total, he wrote 256 scripts in the course of about a month, then organized, did a small test pilot to prove he could do it, and then hired Hike and 8-4 to help him edit and translate everything once he was done recording.
Thus, if you pay attention, you’ll notice that Sakurai wears the same shirts throughout the series. That’s because he recorded an entire “category” of videos in one or two shots and then just stacked them in a way that made it look like he was in fresh clothes every time.
He also revealed that the “Creating Games” channel cost over $600,000 to make, and he intentionally chose NOT to monetize his channel! True, he did admit that was “silly,” but he also felt it was the right thing to do, as he wanted to put something out there that would elevate the industry.
Finally, and arguably most importantly for some of you, yes, Masahiro Sakurai IS working on a new game project. In fact, it started in April of 2022, so he’s been working on it for over two years now, and we all think it might be Nintendo-related.
Regardless, Sakurai noted how proud he was of this channel and all the praise and comments he got about it. The series has a 99.5% upvote rate on YouTube! That’s insane! He also noted he could come back to this channel to do other things in the future. If he does…we’ll be waiting with smiles on and an eagerness to hear whatever he has to say.
