Coronavirus may delay Super Smash Bros content as lockdown slows development

03/22/2020

It seems like even Super Smash Bros isn't safe from the impact of the coronavirus breakout that's been troubling the world for the past month.

An upcoming interview with Masahiro Sakurai – figurehead and director of the series – reveals that the lockdown has seemingly has a massive impact on the schedule for Smash Bros announcements.

Twitter user PushDustin has posted on their account that part of a leaked interview with Sakurai that apparently mentions how coronavirus precautions have caused a delay in the development, and announcement, of new characters.

Japanese blogger Ryokutya2089 (who has been a good source for early Japanese rumours in he past) states that Sakurai suggests Nintendo had planned to release information on upcoming content and new characters, but these plans have been put on ice.

Apparently, Sakurai discusses the workings of Nintendo, and outlines the measures the company is going to to ensure the safety of all its employees.

Ryokutya2089 reports that Sakurai notes even one case of the novel coronavirus detected amongst Nintendo Japan employees could shut the entire office down, and so the utmost care is being taken.

As such, you can imagine the marketing schedule and development schedule for the new content have both been quite heavily impacted.

This is all rumour a the time of writing, so take it with a grain of salt. If it turns out to be true, though, we'd be happy to see Nintendo prioritise its staff over its games.

We'll update you with more news as it becomes available.