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Sakurai Reveals He Sometimes Received IV Drips While Making Smash Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has revealed the physical impact of creating the latest game in Nintendo’s signature fighting franchise.
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Sakurai, synonymous with the ridiculous amounts of work it can take to create video games, revealed in an interview with Nintendo Dream Web (translation via Nintendo Everything) the unhealthy work practices he undertook to create Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. At some points, he literally received IV drips and went to work.
When asked about managing his health during the game’s creation process, he said “I made some changes from what I used to do compared to now... as a principle, I always left the office by 10 PM, no matter what.”
He went on to describe that he was still suffering from a “ton” of stomach problems, going on to compare them to food poisoning. “I’ve had that situation once or twice before during development. It was like I got food poisoning from some oysters that I didn’t eat.” When asked if he took any time off to help alleviate his symptoms, he said he did not, adding “I just get an IV drip and go to work like normal.”
Sakurai also spoke about taking three days off last year for Christmas, and that although his work schedule is gruelling, he laughed while describing his self-imposed work ethic.
“I guess I’m a hard worker? I’m a freelancer, so I don’t have any strict rules on my time. As long as I can complete the game, I could show up to the office once per week and I think it’d be within the realm of forgiveness. But instead I make sure I come to work every day and write proper daily reports and such. I’m always working, but there’s a lot of things that keep me in good spirits!”
After last year’s revelations of 100-hour work weeks from some Rockstar employees, the level of personal care exhibited by game creators and the studios they work in is an ongoing conversation.
In the GDC’s State of the Game Industry 2019 report, it was revealed that nearly half of game industry professionals believe they should unionize, and the AFL-CIO has put out a call for developers to do so.
John is a freelance writer for IGN UK with a love for all things stealthy, ginny and noisy. To set up a game of Spies vs Mercs or hear his less coherent ramblings, get him on Twitter.