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Masahiro Sakurai, the game director and designer arguably best known for creating the Super Smash Bros. and Kirby series, has spoken publicly about what he believes makes an effective video game trailer. The verdict? “Get to the actual game as soon as possible.”
In a new video posted to his YouTube channel, ‘Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games,’ Sakurai advised listeners against making trailers that take too long to get to the point, which is, in his opinion, actual in-game footage.
“Sometimes, the trailer has an opening movie or character intros that just keep going, and it takes forever to get to the part where they show actual gameplay,” he said. “In some cases, trailers like the ones seen on a game’s Steam page won’t show any gameplay footage at all. Please don’t do that! And please, get to the actual game as soon as possible!”
Elaborating on this, Sakurai added that he’s “almost developed a habit of skipping the start of most trailers entirely” due to the amount of lengthy introductions and logos that often precede the juicy bits.
He admitted that popular series are more likely to get away with leaving out in-game footage from their trailers, but encouraged those working on new IP or indie games to jump straight to the action. “We can learn about the story and the game’s world later. […] Just hurry up and show what makes your game appealing,” he added.
There’s no doubt that this is a popular sentiment amongst many in the gaming community. While there are exceptions, there’s often an elevated sense of excitement around a game’s first in-game footage rather than the initial CGI teasers.
Want to keep up with the rest of the year’s game releases? Be sure to check out our roundup of upcoming games, as well as our list of upcoming Switch games, to see what’s on the horizon.