Masahiro Sakurai to close his YouTube channel this year: Back to work as a developer?

If Masahiro Sakurai decided never to be actively involved in video game development again, we would all be sad, but no one would dare to reproach him for his decision. He has more than earned his retirement. In fact, he came very close to quitting several times during his career, due to health problems and long-standing tendonitis in his shoulder, and his YouTube channel seemed like a great epilogue to his career and a great way for anyone to soak up his knowledge. But it looks like he could yet return, and he would do so for a new era of Nintendo.

Sakurai left a message on his YouTube channel congratulating the new year and confirming that he would be closing the channel sometime in 2024. This could mean that the celebrated creator of the Smash Bros. series could be moving on to other things, but logically it could also mean that he is preparing to return to work as a video game developer. All this comes just as rumours of a Switch 2 announcement pick up steam and the announcement of Nintendo's hybrid successor seems closer than we think.

With the secrecy surrounding Nintendo's future console plans, we wouldn't be surprised to see a game with his signature on it in the future. In fact, we'd love to see it. How about you?