Sora Ltd.

Sora Ltd.
Type	Yugen gaisha
Founded	September 30, 2005
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Masahiro Sakurai, Michiko Sakurai
Industry	Video game industry
Products	Video games
Employees	2 (Masahiro and Michiko Sakurai themselves)

Sora Ltd. (有限会社ソラ, Sora Company Limited) is a Japanese video game company founded by Masahiro Sakurai, following his resignation from HAL Laboratory. It is not actually a development studio in its own right, but an agency that represents Sakurai when conducting business with other companies, and therefore contracts development on its games to other developers under his direction. Under this arrangement, Sakurai effectively becomes a temporary employee of those developers and works out of their offices. The only permanent employees of Sora itself are Sakurai and his wife, Michiko. Sora's first game was Meteos, a Nintendo DS puzzle game directed by Sakurai with primary development provided by Q Entertainment.

The development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl was led by Sora with the support of a specially-assembled ad hoc dev team, comprising staff and production support from companies such as Game Arts and Monolith Soft. Super Smash Bros. 4 and Ultimate were likewise developed with the support of Bandai Namco.

In January 2009, Sora Ltd. formed a joint venture with Nintendo entitled "Project Sora". This venture allowed Sakurai the access and use of Nintendo's inhouse resources for game development. The only game released under the Project Sora venture was Kid Icarus: Uprising for Nintendo 3DS, before officially closing on June 30, 2012.

Sora has additionally enabled Sakurai's return to the Kirby series, with the 2025 release of Kirby Air Riders for Nintendo Switch 2.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Sora Ltd. and its founder, Masahiro Sakurai, co-developed the game along with Game Arts and Monolith Soft.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Sakurai directed the game once again under Sora, this time with the support of Bandai Namco. The game prominently features extensive content from Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sora's then-most recent game.

Pit returns from Brawl, along with the debut of Dark Pit and Palutena. All of them are based on their appearances in Uprising. Magnus and Phosphora debut as Assist Trophies. Reaper and Souflee appear in Smash Run and Smash Tour. Several items from Uprising debut in this game, with a majority also appearing in Smash Tour. Viridi appears as a background character and a DLC Mii Costume. 11 music tracks and numerous trophies based on elements from Uprising appear.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Reset Bomb Forest debuts on 3DS. Several enemies from Uprising appear exclusively on Smash Run. Several trophies appear exclusively on 3DS.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Palutena's Temple debuts on Wii U. Several trophies and their corresponding Trophy Boxes appear exclusively on Wii U.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Sora Ltd and Sakurai returned as developer alongside Bandai Namco. Pit, Dark Pit and Palutena return, again based on their appearances in Uprising. Reset Bomb Forest and Palutena's Temple return as stages. All items from Smash 4 return along with the debut of Staff. Phosphora returns as an Assist Trophy. The Viridi Mii Costume returns. 9 new and old music and numerous spirits based on Uprising appear.

Trivia

• 空 is a common Japanese word and name meaning "sky". Its kanji is one Sakurai has expressed fondness for, although the name of the company is written in katakana. Sakurai acknowledged in the Battling with Sora edition of Mr. Sakurai Presents that he coincidentally shares it with the character, and had further remarked on it paralleling the sky imagery in Brawl''s art direction.