Sakurai has put out another video, this time stating outright (instead of strongly implying), that an all-encompassing work ethic is good, actually
anyways as great as the more poetic language here is — about how much it means to have someone play your work, and how lots of people enjoying what you made is a massive reward in and of itself* — I do wanna say that game developers don’t need to work harder at all, actually. game development will destroy your eyes and your back and your brain and your wrists and your interpersonal relationships, even your family!, if you let it get out of hand (which you will be encouraged to do)
work is not life. when your art becomes work, it is still not life.
don’t let survivorship bias trick you into overworking because you’re proud, or because it might make the game better, or because it might mean more people will play it*. maybe your ~footprints will remain~ like the thumbnail states, but I would much rather have you there with them, instead of overworked to an early grave with nothing else to remember you by
*this is a ludicrous metric of success from someone who worked on multiple major Nintendo franchises, each with full AAA marketing budgets