Kirby Air Riders Development Team to Disband After a Final Update

The development team behind Kirby Air Riders will disband after delivering one final balance update, according to director Masahiro Sakurai. He hinted at the disbanding on Dec 12, with a post on X, where Sakurai said the team is aiming to finalize the game’s balance and leave it in a definitive state for the coming years. 

Sakurai’s statement follows the release of the game’s latest update, Ver. 1.2.0. In his post, Sakurai noted that while one more balance adjustment may still be released, the current development phase is nearing completion, and the team will be dissolved once that work is finished. He also mentions that there’s no plan for long-term post-launch support or downloadable content (DLC), as of now.

While the dissolution is surprising, the announcement aligns with Sakurai’s long-held stance on the project. In pre-launch interviews, he stressed that Kirby Air Riders was designed as a complete experience at release. Speaking at Nintendo Direct in Oct 2025, Sakurai said he had “thrown everything” into the project from the start, and did not plan to continue expanding the series after launch.

Kirby Air Riders: Sakurai’s Statement and Latest Update Changes

In his X post, Sakurai explained that the development team was assembled specifically to bring Kirby Air Riders to completion and that its dissolution was always part of the plan once the game reached a stable, balanced state. He emphasized that the goal of the remaining work is not expansion but refinement for balance.

The most recent update, detailed on Nintendo’s official support page, introduced a series of balance adjustments and fixes. These include changes to machine performance and bug fixes for better race flow and stability. It also integrates scannable amiibo in the paddock, and additionally, lets the player find ‘playback position’ during video replay.

Rider Rick’s durability and attack power have also been changed for balance adjustment, under the new patch. Ride machines such as Devil Star, Warp Star, Heavy Star, Turbo Star, Jetstar, and the like went through new changes, reinforcing Sakurai’s claim that the focus is on polishing.

Nintendo has also mentioned two issues pertaining to the "Gummy Candies" collection and the Clear Checker for operating the final task under the Ver. 1.2.0 update note, explaining that these will be fixed with a later update. These might be the final adjustments that Sakurai mentioned in his post.

Kirby Air Riders marked the franchise’s return to the racing subgenre for the first time since Kirby Air Ride on the GameCube in 2003. The game launched on Nintendo Switch 2 on Nov 20, 2025, and drew attention as Sakurai’s first Kirby project in two decades. The game also debuted as the highest-selling game in Japan in its launch week.