As noted by Stealth on X (formerly known as Twitter), Bandai Namco’s Studio 2 & Studio S no longer appear to hiring to fill positions within their company. This is significant as we last heard that Studio 2 & Studio S were seeking experience in action games, some of which are specifically said to be at the “side-view.”
Additionally, Studio 2 & Studio S already has a pretty outstanding track record as they were the developers behind Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart Tour, Mario Sports Superstars, ARMS, Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS, Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Notably, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are some of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch.
As of March 31, 2024, the 10 top-selling games on the Nintendo Switch are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (61.97 million units), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (45.36 million units), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (34.22 million units), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (31.85 million units), Super Mario Odyssey (27.96 million units), Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield (26.27 million units), Pokémon Scarlet/Pokémon Violet (24.92 million units), Super Mario Party (20.66 million units), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (20.61 million units), and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (17.45 million units).
All of this on the Nintendo Switch, the third best-selling console of all time right now with 141.32 million units sold. With this in mind, the rumors about Nintendo’s next console certainly make sense from a business perspective.
Though Nintendo has yet to officially announce details about the Switch’s successor (aside from mentioning that it will be announced this fiscal year), Nintendo fans have essentially dubbed the mysterious console as the “Switch 2.” The rumors surrounding the Switch 2 suggest that it will be a more powerful version of the Nintendo Switch that will seemingly even outperform the Playstation 4 based on what we know of its potential specs, though none of that is officially confirmed just yet.
It’s also worth mentioning that Nintendo has a history of releasing a new Super Smash Bros. entry near the beginning of each console’s life. At the very least, there’s typically a Super Smash Bros. entry announced to encourage players to pick up consoles early.
As it turns out, Super Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai recently outlined that the filming of the final episode of his YouTube channel (focused on giving tips to would-be game creators) had been wrapped up. From this, we presume that he’ll be refocusing his efforts entirely on game development once more.
Shortly before this, Sakurai declared that he’s still creating games for the time being even though he previously stated that he was semi-retired at the age of 52. Ultimately though, Sakurai has acknowledged how the continuation of the Super Smash Bros. series can’t really happen without his involvement right now.
Finally, it comes across as being suspicious to see four sets of Spirit Board Events get released into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate despite it being a couple of years since patch 13.0.1 was released, which was the last time the game received any sort of post-launch support before these anniversary Spirit Board Events.
It seems unlikely that Nintendo would get a small team back together just to work on these extra Spirits. Ultimately, the last balance patch for Super Smash Bros. 4 that was specifically aimed at nerfing Bayonetta was only able to happen because the developers were already deep into development for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which wasn’t announced at the time.
Ultimately, all of this seems to point towards development of a new entry for the Super Smash Bros. series on the unannounced Switch successor. Bandai Namco’s Studio 2 & Studio S is likely involved for the third time as the developer for this unknown Super Smash Bros. title.
There have been multiple occasions in which Sakurai has stated that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s “Everyone Is Here” theme was only able to happen because Bandai Namco went from developing Super Smash Bros. 4 straight into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Normally, there’s a transition period that has to happen for a new developer to get used to what the project entails for the Super Smash Bros. series, but this was expediated the last time due to Bandai Namco’s familiarity with developing Super Smash Bros.
If this is truly happening again, then we can probably expect big things of the next Super Smash Bros. entry even though Masahiro Sakurai himself had previously stated that he thought that the “Everyone Is Here” theme could only happen once for the Super Smash Bros. series. However, the success of the latest entry (over 34 million units sold) may mean that Nintendo is willing to invest a lot more into this type of project.
Considering the massive success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (another title developed by Studio 2 & Studio S), it wouldn’t be outlandish to think that the team is working on a “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe,” a game that would effectively continue development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with new content on the Switch 2.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens from here, but these details about Studio 2 & Studio S filling these specific positions potentially suggests good things for the future of the Super Smash Bros. series.