Masahiro Sakurai has poured cold water on the suggestion that a new game in his Smash Bros series is around the corner, admitting that work has yet to begin on the project and saying that gamers may have to wait "several years" before anything is released.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced a new Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS on stage at the firm's E3 press conference earlier this month, but in an interview with Famitsu magazine - translated by 1UP - Sakurai said he and Project Sora were still focused on their upcoming 3DS game, Kid Icarus Uprising, and that he feels Iwata's announcement was somewhat premature.
"We've got no plans whatsoever," he said. "We've got two new games out in the open when there's no extra time to work with them at all. It makes me cringe, and I'm not sure it's the smartest thing to make gamers wait for several years, but the early announcement was made chiefly in order to attract new team members."
In fact it seems that the announcement has made Sakurai nervous, and thrown into chaos his normal approach to development. "The hardest part about game development is the burden it places upon me," he explained. "With previous projects I had a game design document in place before forming a team, but with this I don't have time for that.
"I won't be able to look at every aspect of the game and balance out all the characters by myself this time. I'm trying to think about how this is going to work out, but probably I'll have to discuss it with my future development team. The future of this project really depends on the people I can get involved with it."
Iwata's E3 announcement certainly implied that development was at an early stage. "What Sakurai suggested was Smash Bros for both 3DS and Wii U, and to make it work on both platforms," he said. "I think I just promised you that Smash Bros will be developed for both systems and the software will work together in some fashion."
Nintendo's failure to show off any Wii U games - instead focusing on the controller itself during the press conference, and showing only proof-of-concept prototypes on the show floor - was a factor in the firm's share price dropping to a five-year low during E3 week.
That Iwata actually mentioned Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS during the conference was taken as a sign that development was at least underway - now it appears that, not only is work yet to begin, but the creator of the much-loved series is already worried about how it will turn out.
Source: 1UP
Comments
9Sounds like Nintendo don't know their ass from their elbow at the moment.
Announcing games that haven't begun development
Not sure on exact hardware specs
Nerfing dev kits
Not showing any games for new hardware
Sounds to me like old Ninty have become a bit complacant recently.
The announcement that there will be a new Smash Bros Game on Nintendo's next console is as shocking as if they had said that there will also be new Mario or Zelda games.
True next gen games that are fully featured: HD, full length, multiplayer and online play features enabled, and touch screen features, will take a minimum of a year and a half to make, and probably much, much longer on new hardware with no final specs or dev kits available.
Nintendo is going to have a horrible launch (only a few rushed ports and maybe a tech demo or two) if they try for 2012. That in conjunction with the looming PS4 & Xbox announcements will make the Wii U this gens Dreamcast. If they cant even get at least 2 pads working at the same time, they should just save themselves the time and start making Mario & Zelda games now for Sony & Microsoft.
The most suprising thing here is the (well desereved) public rebuke from a senior exec against a reigning japanese company monarch. It shows there must be quite a bit of discontent at Ninty HQ at the moment with Iwata. Topple him!
I'm not so sure we will be hearing too much from Sony/MS about a new console until atleast the next E3, though it is clear Nintendo are on the back foot at the moment in regards to the home console market. Wii sales are slowing, Kinect and Move both out perform even motion plus and HD is now a part of most homes unlike at wii launch.
Why so pessimistic? Jep, Nintendo apparently rushed the Wii U announcement, but I don't see them fail. They may just not dominate the market as they used to the past four years, not so surprising given that Microsoft and Sony are formidable opponents. Nintendo will always have a place due to their core franchises, sometimes they will be more successful, sometimes less, that's the nature of competition. Quite frankly, they do amazingly well as a relatively small company next to the corporate giants that Sony and Microsoft are.
Small company? Aren't they worth more than Sony?
I was not considering stock market value, but the corporate size, ie turnover. Sony does videogames, but also owns a movie studio, a record label, produces TVs, laptops, and so forth. It is a giant compared to the then relative small Nintendo. Stock market value does not indicate the size of a company, much rather its profitability. Consider Porsche, small company - but used to have a gigantic stock market value (until it merged with VW).
These comments make me want to set myself ablaze.
Need a light?