There has always been a question in the gaming community, specifically from gamers themselves, about how certain projects get pitched, accepted, and made. The answer truly is that it just depends on the company, the people, their budget for certain projects, and so on. Sometimes, like in the case of Sandfall Interactive or Hideki Kamiya with CLOVERS Inc., teams form specifically to make the games that THEY want to make. Then, you have even more nuanced takes, like one from Masahiro Sakurai. In a chat with 47 News in Japan, he expanded upon his own process of making games, and doing projects that are basically requested of him, and not specifically wanting to do ones himself:
“I think about and create games based on requests, so I don’t really have any desire to make them myself. The most fun part about games is playing them. I even think that if I wasn’t asked to make a game, I might not make one.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m uninterested, or cold-hearted, or that I won’t work hard to make one, but I look at it rather objectively. I think my motivation is closer to there being a demand and I want to work hard to fulfill it. Basically, my motivation comes more from what other people think than from myself.”
If you recall, Sakurai confirmed this himself in his beloved Creating Games channel, where he talked about being asked to create or even save certain projects.
Now that his latest project is done, one might wonder if Nintendo will “request” that he do either another game in another franchise, or whether they’ll ask him to continue Super Smash Bros.
No matter the path for Masahiro Sakurai, you can expect what he makes to be great.
Source: 47 News
