Japanese video game creator ‘retires’ after spending $600K on YouTube channel for no returns

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator behind Super Smash Bros and Kirby has shared that he has invested more than $600k on his YouTube channel without making any revenue in return.

In the final video of his YouTube channel “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games,” he announced that all the content he previously uploaded was filmed over 2 years ago. Therefore he also looked older than he did in his past 260 releases.

In his final video, Sukarai explained how much he has been invested in his YouTube channel.

He explains that most of the content of the channel was filmed within a window of 6 months while he was working on projects in 2022. For the past two years, he hired a video editing firm along with a team of translators to keep the channel consistent.

Source: Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games: Finale Special, Youtube

The money he paid for the team as well as the extra costs amounts to a total of 90 million yen. He admits the low value of the yen makes the figure sound bigger, but if converted with modern rates it is almost $600,000.

He further explains if he had to pay for additional work which he did by himself for writing scripts. recording footage and editing the drafts, the figure could have easily made the “production costs skyrocket”.

Sakurai decided not to monetize his YouTube channel 

What’s surprising is that Sakurai didn’t earn a single yen for the work he shared on his channel. This is because his channel wasn’t monetized.

It’s difficult to predict the exact figure. However, given that he has 80 million views across his Japanese and English channels and going by the YouTube return of $6 per 1k views, he could have easily earned almost $500k back.

Along with his final video views, he could have made $100k more to break even with his investments. Sakurai has acknowledged that the decision to not monetize was actually a “silly” one. Still, he has his fair reasons for it.

He says,

“However, and I truly mean this. I consider this an investment toward a brighter future for games”.

Sakurai has shared his hopes that his archive of videos will be an inspiration for developers if they need help and a tribute game design. He further said he doesn’t know if his hopes will come true but the channel has done well enough with the money and time invested in it.

Video game creator has been working on a new mystery game since 2022

Sakurai also revealed that in 2021, when the creator was working on Super Smash Bros. DLC, he received a request. The request was to “write a game proposal” which he worked on at lightning speed.

However, he did not provide any more details about the mystery game. He expects the game, if made, will be announced soon.

He said after wrapping up Super Smash Bros., he received the go-ahead to work on the new project. However “he would have to wait” until April 2022 to gather the right team.

It was a rare chance to take a break for a few months since game developers usually start working on the next project while finishing one. He used his free time to start and work on his YouTube channel as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”