The director of Super Smash Bros. doesn’t see how the franchise can get bigger than Ultimate

Almost five years have passed since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released on the Nintendo Switch. Since then, fans have been wondering whether a potential new addition to the series could ever hope to surpass what Ultimate did. In his latest video about video game development, series director Masahiro Sakurai shared his thoughts and doesn’t see how the popular fighting game franchise can get any bigger.

Sakurai thought again about the future of the Smash Bros. series after Ultimate gave fans almost every character and stage they could want in a fighting game, from Banjo-Kazooie to Tekken’s Heihachi Mishima Sora from Kingdom Hearts.

He admits that he is skeptical about the development team developing another Super Smash Bros. title that goes far beyond what Ultimate did, given the strenuous circumstances his development team has endured during the COVID-19 pandemic to add more content to the game.

“What’s next for the Smash Bros. series, even I don’t know,” Sakurai said. “I think we’ve really succeeded in making people happy with this game, but now that Smash Bros. has reached such a massive size, I find it hard to imagine it ever being scaled back to that level.”

He added: “We’ve managed each time to make a game that I previously thought was impossible, so I can’t say for sure there won’t be another one, but I think it would be difficult to do it to push further than we have.”

Sakurai previously mentioned that he can’t imagine a Smash Bros. game without him, as he has been retired from game development for a year. With the prospect of the Switch 2 (or whatever Nintendo’s new console system will be called) on the horizon, there’s a chance a new Smash Bros. game will be developed for it.

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love of Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.