- Super Smash Bros. series creator Masahiro Sakurai believes market research and sales strategies should sometimes be taken “with a grain of salt”
- He doubts a “path yet untravelled” can be properly explored with market research
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People who strive to be innovative will forever stand alone as trendsetters, says Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, he stated that industry boundaries won’t expand without different voices and trendsetters who “make new roads for others to follow”.
Sakurai advised against targeting specific age ranges with video games – preferring to categorise audiences by experience, such as “beginners”.
That’s because the boundaries between audiences are “very blurry”, he said. When creating another Nintendo franchise, Kirby, Sakurai “never said it was designed for children”. Instead, he developed the Game Boy game “primarily for beginners”, which could mean “children or adults, men and women alike”.
Equally, he noted how more advanced players were still able to enjoy the title, so “you can’t sum it up in just one word”.
“We shouldn’t get too hung up”
He shared this perspective and further thoughts on sales strategies and market research in the games industry, believing that while they have their place, they should sometimes be taken “with a grain of salt”.
“I don’t have any objections to targeting or market research, of course, but I personally feel that we shouldn’t get too hung up on these kinds of things,” said Sakurai. “The practices can be very effective in some industries, but if you’re trying to think up new game ideas, I’d recommend not taking them too seriously.
“Targeting isn’t as reliable as people claim, and market research is based on past results.”
To Sakurai, this is a core flaw with market research because “there’s nothing there that speaks to a path yet untravelled”, yet new trendsetters can only arise from exploring new avenues.
“It simply tells you a safer route – the main road,” he said. “This is the way most people have chosen to go. But if you keep following that path, you’ll end up producing work that’s increasingly average and mediocre, and that sells less.”
Sakurai’s stance is a clear one – less data-driven and more explorative – but he’s also noted the increasing complexity of making modern games, particularly in the triple-A space.
