‘I’m supervising the project from a distance’
The world is a strange place right now.
Any given country is following different protocols in regards to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but Japan just recently decided to declare a state of emergency, sending some organizations into disarray. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lead Masahiro Sakurai warned us this could happen, but has confirmed on Twitter that he is still actively working on the game from home.
Straight from the source (as translated by PushDustIn), Sakurai is now working from home and “supervising the project from a distance.” As he intimated last month it’s going to be difficult given the supreme secrecy of how Smash handles its marketing, but the series boss says there is “no choice” in the matter, encouraging everyone to “do our best to get through this.”
While games are probably the last thing on a lot of people’s minds, it’s great that Sakurai can still safely follow his passion and stay employed during all of this (presumably alongside of much of Smash Ultimate‘s development team). While the second Fighter’s Pass could see delays come out of all of this, I think I speak for everyone when I say that the safety of Sakurai and his squad comes first.
Sakurai [Twitter via PushDustIn]
