During an event celebrating 40 years of Japanese game magazine Famitsu, Super Smash Bros. supremo Masahiro Sakurai participated in a talk where he discussed his career and work. He shared his thoughts about generative AI, confirming that he has not yet used the technology for any of his current projects, and remains cautious over how useful the tool is in its current state.
The talk was held to coincide with the release of a new book in Japan compiling Sakurai’s writings for Famitsu magazine. Over the course of the 18 years between 2003 and 2021, Sakurai wrote a column for Famitsu discussing the ever-evolving state of games development and his experience managing the shifting expectations and technologies within the industry. Alongside discussing his past work, the famed game director took some time to address many of the modern concerns facing the industry, including the growing debate surrounding generative AI. At least for now, Sakurai doesn’t think AI can handle tasks in games development or even the brainstorming process, and believes that “we can come up with better ideas by thinking about them for ourselves.”
“There’s more [to game development] than simply coming up with an idea,” Sakurai explained. “It’s not enough to just think up an idea. Lots of different factors come into consideration here, like whether you have a fixed deadline or if your team can do it, does it fit into your budget, and so on.”
Currently, Sakurai also believes the technology is not strong enough to even be used for brainstorming ideas, due to the need to factor in the realities of development and the limits on the sort of results it can come up with. He hasn’t used it in any of his recent games, including the most recent Kirby Air Raiders, and currently has no plans to use it, doubtful of its capabilities.
That being said, he doesn’t rule out its use entirely, as a result of the demands of players and the industry putting increased strain on the development pipeline. According to him, work on Kirby Air Riders was ten times more demanding than it was working on the GameCube original, and he notes that there are examples of games unable to turn a profit even after selling millions of units. In order to bring down costs and make these games viable, he suggests its use may be necessary in the future when the technology improves.
“If you remain stuck on the idea of not using AI because it’s not trustworthy enough as a technology, there’s a risk that you may fall further and further behind,” Sakurai ponders. “Compared to developers who make games without it, I believe those using AI without hesitation are likely to be able to create more games. As a result, not using may also be a bad idea.”
Developers from Shigeru Miyamoto to Kotaro Uchikoshi have shared varied opinions on the future use cases for AI within the Japanese games industry, and the broad adoption or regulation of AI by Japanese studios. As seen with developers like Sakurai, however, not all are willing to embrace the technology or feel that generative AI is ready to be trusted with major development tasks.
