Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received a number of updates after it was released. Though many of these updates were made alongside character releases, patch version 13.01.1, was a standalone patch that provided the final set of fighter adjustments. Of course, there are many fans that had hoped that the developers would be able to continue supporting the game for about a year or so after the final DLC combatant, Sora, was released.
In a recent video, Masahiro Sakurai talked about the benefits of providing these sort of updates. Early on, he noted that it would be ideal if games were perfect upon release, but this isn’t really feasible in the modern era considering that games have become, as described by Sakurai himself, “a hundred, a thousand, or even ten-thousand times more complex” than games from the past.
Ultimately, the developers themselves end up having very little time to actually play the finished game during the window in which a game is ready and before it’s released. Every time a single bug is fixed, the team technically has to double check everything else to make sure there weren’t any side effects of this adjustment.
As a result, the fanbase is more likely to identify problems that need addressing than the quality assurance team. This is simply because a game like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be shipped to millions of fans around the world. Once this happens, it’s typical for a video depicting the problem is uploaded, which allows the game developers to address the issue in a future update.
Finally, Sakurai mentions how balance tweaks and quality of life changes are just an extra bonus that developers can work on while also developing things like DLC fighters. However, from a business perspective, it’s generally better to have much of the team move on to another game once a project has shipped.
Recently, Masahiro Sakurai stated during a video that he’s still creating games for the time being even while managing a YouTube channel, though he’s also announced that the final video for his channel has since been recorded. Many fans have presumed to believe that this is due to a ramp up of development on whatever Sakurai might be working on.
Considering that Studio 2 & Studio S of Bandai Namco have recently filled a position for the development of an action game played from the “side view,” it’s very likely that development of the next entry of the Super Smash Bros. series has begun specifically for the Switch successor, currently dubbed as the “Switch 2” by fans and speculators due to it being unannounced at the moment.
Needless to say, once a new entry for the Super Smash Bros. series is released, we probably should expect plenty of updates in the years to come, especially considering how massive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was.