Masahiro Sakurai ends Game Designers Award after 16 years

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Kirby and Super Smash Bros., has announced the discontinuation of the ‘Game Designers Award’ after 16 years. Speaking at the Japan Game Awards, Sakurai stated that the award would end because he could not find a suitable successor to maintain the integrity and role of the honor.

Established in 2010, the award was designed to recognize genuine creativity and originality in video games, prioritizing innovative gameplay over sales figures or popularity. Sakurai noted that finding a replacement who could provide the necessary level of critical, innovative judgment proved difficult, citing a trend where rising development costs lead creators to minimize risk rather than pursue groundbreaking design.

The final recipient of the award was ‘Word Game’, a text-based puzzle project from the independent studio Team9. The judging panel for this final year included industry veterans such as Hideki Kamiya, Yoko Taro, and Toby Fox.