{"id":49352,"date":"2025-06-23T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=49352"},"modified":"2025-06-23T18:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:13:13","slug":"masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn’t hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After leaving HAL Laboratory and going independent in 2003, Kirby and Smash Bros. series creator Sakurai Masahiro<\/strong> founded his own company, Sora Ltd. But Sora is not a typical game studio \u2013 it has only two full-time employees (Sakurai and his wife), and it exclusively works in contract with other development companies, on a project-by-project basis. Sakurai has no plans to hire employees or expand Sora as a company either. In a recent interview with ITmedia Business<\/a>, he shared some details about this policy, commenting on the advantages and disadvantages it has brought him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about his position as CEO of Sora, Sakurai says that there is no common ground whatsoever between game development and (business) management, to the point that he has refused past interviews with business journals because he does not consider himself a manager.\u00a0(Interestingly, Koei Tecmo founder Kou Shibusawa has expressed the opposite opinion<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sora<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I entered the game industry between the 1990s and 2000s, many game creators went independent and founded their own companies. However, I felt that whenever a creator became a company president, they\u2019d have difficulty doing creative work to their full potential. I think that there is some degree of conflict between making good games and making business decisions, and being busy with the duties of a CEO means you can\u2019t devote yourself to the crucial task of game production,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanting to go independent without being held down by the responsibilities of a business manager, Sakurai\u2019s solution was to simply not hire any staff. Although he is technically CEO of Sora, his actual role is completely different to that of a president of a typical company with in-house staff. To Sakurai, Sora is just a legal entity he uses to handle personal contracts with other parties \u2013 and this method has worked very well for him. \u201cIt allows me to concentrate on my craft and continue doing creative work without being overwhelmed by management-related duties.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Super<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Sakurai admits that his approach has its drawbacks \u2013 as he works with different teams for each project, none of the know-how gets accumulated, and he needs to build up trust and establish working methods from scratch each time. Additionally, Sakurai does not consider his methods to be an optimal solution that others in the industry can easily apply. \u201cIt depends on the person \u2013 I was able to establish this way of working because I have a track record and reputation from my work on Kirby and Super Smash Bros. titles. If you don\u2019t have an existing track record, you won\u2019t be able to get any work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related Articles: Game creators can\u2019t compete with what doctors do, but they have the potential to \u201cbuff peoples\u2019 lives,\u201d Super Smash. Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai says\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should developers be making the games they want or the games the industry needs? Masahiro Sakurai shares his insight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has his own company, but its only employees are himself and his wife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":49360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-49352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nMasahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn't hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has his own company, but its only employees are himself and his wife.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn't hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has his own company, but its only employees are himself and his wife.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250623-49352-001.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1071\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"664\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn't hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has his own company, but its only employees are himself and his wife.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn't hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has his own company, but its only employees are himself and his wife.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-06-23T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1071,"height":664,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250623-49352-001.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn’t hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-06-23T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/"},"wordCount":506,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250623-49352-001.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/","name":"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn't hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250623-49352-001.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-23T13:00:00+00:00","description":"Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has his own company, but its only employees are himself and his wife.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250623-49352-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250623-49352-001.jpg","width":1071,"height":664,"caption":"Masahiro Sakurai"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/masahiro-sakurai-explains-why-his-company-doesnt-hire-employees-there-is-a-conflict-between-game-development-and-business-management\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Masahiro Sakurai explains why his company doesn’t hire employees. \u201cThere is a conflict between game development and business management\u201d\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49352"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49359,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49352\/revisions\/49359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}