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.

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