Nintendo’s Switch 2 release slate is starting to wind up now that Donkey Kong Bananza and Drag x Drive are on the system — but we still don’t know a lot about other games coming to the system, namely Kirby Air Riders. But that might change in the near future.
Game director and Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai celebrated the 20th anniversary of his company, Sora, in a post on X. At the end of the post, Sakurai says, “The new game Kirby Air Riders hasn’t even show gameplay footage yet, but I think we’ll be able to share some information soon.”
Of course, the word soon could mean a lot of things, but there are multiple major gaming events within the next month, including gamescom, PAX West, and Tokyo Game Show. Any of those shows, or a Nintendo Direct around them, could be a viable option.
Kirby Air Riders was one of the games shown off at the Switch 2’s reveal, and Nintendo still has the game listed for a 2025 release date on its official website. So if it really is coming out this year, it makes sense we’d need to see some kind of info or gameplay soon.
The game also marks a big return for Sakurai to Kirby, the franchise he created and directed as an employee at HAL Laboratory. But in 2003, he left the company and would go on to found Sora Ltd. in 2005, with his wife, Michiko Sakurai. Sora is a company that includes only the two of them, essentially handling their contracts on different projects, including Sakurai’s work on Super Smash Bros.
On his YouTube channel, Sakurai actually answered questions about Sora and how it functions.
If you haven’t watched the rest of Sakurai’s YouTube videos, it’s one of the greatest treasure troves of game design information you’ll find anywhere on the internet.
Kirby Air Riders releases on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025.
