Age, Biography and Wiki

Masahiro Sakurai was born on 3 August, 1970 in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese video game designer (born 1970). Discover Masahiro Sakurai's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 53 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Game director · game designer · scenario writer
Age 53 years old
Zodiac Sign Leo
Born 3 August 1970
Birthday 3 August
Birthplace Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan
Nationality Japan

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 3 August. He is a member of famous director with the age 53 years old group.

Masahiro Sakurai Height, Weight & Measurements

At 53 years old, Masahiro Sakurai height not available right now. We will update Masahiro Sakurai's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Masahiro Sakurai's Wife?

His wife is Michiko Sakurai

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Michiko Sakurai
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Masahiro Sakurai Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Masahiro Sakurai worth at the age of 53 years old? Masahiro Sakurai’s income source is mostly from being a successful director. He is from Japan. We have estimated Masahiro Sakurai's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income director

Masahiro Sakurai Social Network

Instagram
Linkedin
Twitter Masahiro Sakurai Twitter
Facebook
Wikipedia Masahiro Sakurai Wikipedia
Imdb

Timeline

Masahiro Sakurai (桜井 政博) is a Japanese video game director and game designer best known as the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series.

1970

Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan.

One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked for HAL Laboratory, where he created the character Kirby at age 19 and directed his first title, Kirby's Dream Land.

2003

Formerly an employee of HAL Laboratory, Sakurai left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-HAL Laboratory) founded their company Sora Ltd. (有限会社ソラ), under which they work on a freelance basis.

He was also an author of a weekly column for Famitsu magazine from 2003 to 2021, and has done voice acting work in some of his games, most notably providing the voice of King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the Super Smash Bros. series.

Since 2022, Sakurai has been creating videos for his YouTube channel, Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, where he discusses game design and his career.

Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003, after growing tired of the sequelization passively forced by HAL, ending his work on the Kirby series.

"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming," Sakurai commented, in an interview with Nintendo Dream, two weeks after he resigned from HAL.

He explained that, "even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally".

Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project with Q Entertainment, along with Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

2005

Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design of Meteos in 2005 and directed Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012.

This collaboration resulted in Meteos in 2005, a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS.

On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd. Two games were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged.

As for the future of the Super Smash Bros. series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory president Satoru Iwata, during Nintendo's E3 2005 press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to the Nintendo Wii.

In issue #885 of Famitsu magazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii.

2007

The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008.

On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice for King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as well as Dedede in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

2008

Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development.

Sakurai had been updating daily the Super Smash Bros Brawl website called the Smash Bros. Dojo.

Starting a year previous the release, he revealed Brawl secrets and gameplay content through the site.

2010

He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio, Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed at E3 2010 that Sakurai and Project Sora were working on Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS.

2011

At E3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

2012

Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012.

Sakurai began development of the title upon the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising in March 2012.

2013

In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed with calcific tendinitis near his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm.

He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of his game testing himself.

Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, including Kirby Air Ride, Meteos, and the Super Smash Bros. series.

2015

In a January 2015 column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.

In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in the Smash Bros. series, prior to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being released in 2018 with Sakurai once again as director.

On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator by Weekly Famitsu.

Sakurai also announced that he is working on a new project not related to game production.

Sakurai launched Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, a YouTube channel in both English and Japanese in August 2022.

The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career.

He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked to lecture at schools.

Sakurai additionally noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as the Game Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.

Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers.

The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed by Yuzo Koshiro.